I want a champion, or a championship.

It may well happen this year. 

We in this area have a reigning champion in our midst, a two-time winner of the Class B state discus championship, Plains senior Lexi Deming. 

Deming is a key cog in the revitalized Plains volleyball program heading into the upcoming Western 7B playoffs. Will the Trotters and Deming provide the championship? 

I wouldn’t be against it. The 7B is currently ruled by unbeaten Eureka, with T Falls and Plains right on their tails. 

Or will the championship come from the ranks of Sanders County’s two packed and young teams of cross-country runners? 

Thompson Falls’ girls won the Western Divisional B/C meet this past weekend in Missoula and qualified several runners among the top 15 who advance to state. 

Second place in the team title pursuit went to the Trotters, who were paced by super-soph Marina Tulloch, who won the individual crown in Missoula with another first-place finish this season. 

Thompson Falls had four top 15 runners, led by the sixth-place finish posted by eighth grader Audrey Fairbank. 

Could the champion come from the ranks of the area’s boys cross country runners? 

The Horsemen captured the boys team title this past weekend, paced by freshman Owen John Jermyn’s third place medal.  That lofty showing helped the Horsemen win the event and place three runners in the Top 15 individual competition. 

The last state team championship was won by Thompson Falls football team in 2021.  That team, under the guidance of coach Jerad Koskela, was unbeaten and untied in the eight-player ranks. 

Their “reward” for winning the state title was to be moved to 11-player football the following season. 

Sadly, I missed the game due to an angry heart and some repair that was needed. 

So, I need a state title.  Let me live vicariously through a football championship team. 

Or a volleyball winning crew or a cross-country flock. 

The talent is right here, in Mineral and Sanders Counties.  Superior and St. Regis are in the thick of the Western 8-player conference race.  Hot Springs and Noxon are squaring off this weekend in Hot Springs with more than just bragging rights on the line. 

Any one of those teams is quite capable of winning it all. Of bringing home the proverbial bacon. Eating the whole enchilada. 

Following these teams has created an addiction of sorts within me.  I’ve met so many awesome young folks and equally awesome coaches and staff in my five seasons doing this “retirement” job. 

If this season is my finale, I would like nothing better than being there to help celebrate a state championship. 

I hope to keep covering these teams and doing my best to shine a light on the efforts of the student-athletes involved. 

In the meantime, a state title would be so cool to this overgrown sports nut.