The Front Row with MARK NELKE May 16, 2010

We won't get a state track meet here in North Idaho anytime soon.

Ditto baseball and tennis, as well as basketball and wrestling.

But the Idaho High School Activities Association throws us a bone with state tournaments in some of the other sports, and this week, that bone tastes like golf and 3A softball.

The last time state golf was in Coeur d'Alene, the Coeur d'Alene Vikings, led by medalist Ryan Morton, won the 2004 state 5A boys title at the Coeur d'Alene Public. It was their fourth state title - all in a seven-year period. And the Vikings have been itching for another chance to welcome the rest of the state to its own course - Avondale Golf Course in Hayden Lake - ever since.

If you can, feel free to visit Avondale on Monday and Tuesday and watch the best high school golfers in the state tackle a beautiful layout which punishes wayward shots with out of bounds on many of the holes.

(Just don't yell, "You da man!" or "You da girl!" after a nice shot.)

Another scenic but tight course, Twin Lakes Village, hosts the state 4A golf tournament, and the wide-open The Links Golf Club in Post Falls is the site of the state 3A tourney. The 2As are at Bryden Canyon in Lewiston.

The forecast calls for rain later in the week, which can only mean one thing - the state 3A softball tournament is up here, at Ramsey Park in Coeur d'Alene.

Twice in the past decade, the 3A tourney at Ramsey was cut short by rain, with the winner determined on games that had been completed. Even the state 5A tourney schedule at Ramsey was thrown off one year by rain.

Post Falls and Lake City could wind up playing for the state 5A softball title this week. But unfortunately for local fans, they would be doing it some 525 miles away, in Twin Falls. But, so it goes, we get the state 5A and 4A softball tournaments every other year. Last year, Coeur d'Alene placed second, Lake City third, and we'll get that bone next year.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at mnelke@cdapress.com.