THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: 'The heave' relived, and lotsa kids going to play in college

Jake Lenz. 

Jake Lenz? 

Why does that name sound familiar? 

For one, the Lenz family is well-known in athletic circles in Coeur d’Alene. 

And when Lake City High grad Jake Lenz was recently named head baseball coach at his alma mater, it was a reminder he had one of the longest assists in Lake City High boys basketball history. 

Remember the crazy finish to the Sandpoint-Lake City regional tournament game in 1999? Where Jeff Schuh gathered a teammate’s halfcourt heave off the backboard and laid it in at the buzzer to give the Timberwolves a 61-59 victory. 

That heave came from Jake Lenz. 

Seconds earlier, Schuh missed a layup that would have given Lake City the lead. 

Sandpoint rebounded and passed the ball up the court, looking to get off a game-winning shot with the clock winding down. 

Lenz intercepted the pass at midcourt and, with 4 seconds still remaining, heaved the ball toward the Lake City basket. 

“I just let it fly,” Lenz recalled last week. “I could hear (coach Jim) Winger) in my head, like ’What are you doing?’ Luckily it hit where it did so Jeff could put it in.” 

Schuh was still near the basket when the heave caromed off the backboard to him, and he put it in to force a second championship game the following night, also won by Lake City to send the T-Wolves to state. Sandpoint eventually lost in a state play-in game. 

“Just like we drew it up,” Lenz said with a laugh. “It was the most chaotic 30 seconds, but it worked out. 

“I turned around and everybody from the den came running out on the court.”

HERE’S SOME commitments/signings from local athletes that we’ve seen posted recently on social media:  

• Tyson Charley (Lakeside High), basketball, to Spokane Colleges (formerly Community Colleges of Spokane) 

• Kyleigh Wolfe (Lakeside High), basketball, to Spokane Colleges 

• Vander Brown (Lakeside High, North Idaho College), basketball, to NAIA Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. 

• Abby Helmholz (Lakeland High), junior pitcher, to Whitworth 

• Payton Young (Timberlake High), basketball, to Treasure Valley Community College. 

AND NIC posted a list of newcomers to its wrestling program this coming season. 

Among the locals: Justus Peregrina (Coeur d’Alene High), Damion Hamilton (Post Falls High), Aiden Yearout (St. Maries High) and Rider Seguine (Post Falls High). 

Seguine is a redshirt freshman who originally committed to Cal State Bakersfield. 

COEUR d’ALENE High posted a graphic on X recently of all the former Vikings who will be on NFL and college rosters this fall. 

You can guess the NFL guy — Colson Yankoff (class of 2018), Washington Commanders. 

Here’s their list of 24 former Vikings on college rosters: 

Wyatt Potter (2021), Northwestern Oklahoma; Wyatt Sandford (2022), Montana; Isaiah Griffin (2022), Southern Oregon; Kruz Wheeler (2023), Golden West College; Junus McGraw (2023), Wyoming; Jace Eastlick (2024), Montana; Shea Robertson (2024), Eastern Washington; Aaron Ivankovich (2024), Golden West College; Owen Harris (2024), Whitworth; Will Fairbanks (2024), Cornell College; Kai Wheeler (2025), Idaho State; Kolbe Coey (2025), Carroll College; Jayson Cady (2025), Rocky Mountain College; Carter Hanson (2025), Rocky Mountain College; Tucker Booth (2025), Eastern Oregon University; Chris Zabel (2025), University of Minnesota-Morris; Isaac Rook (2025), Montana-Western; Daniel Shoup (2026), Whitworth; Conner Keaggy (2026), Bismarck State; George Mitchell (2026), Golden West College; Mateo Rhea (2026), Golden West College; Anthony Gillie (2026), Golden West College; Ty Paulin (2026), Pacific Lutheran University; and Christian Young (2026), Carroll College. 

Bismarck State, an NAIA school, is bringing back football for the first time since 1985. 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.