The Front Row with MARK NELKE June 16, 2011
One thing good about Seattle U accepting an invitation to join the Western Athletic Conference in 2012 — it helps keep some of the “Western” in the WAC.
For now.
Seattle U will give the WAC nine basketball and seven football schools starting with the 2012-13 season.
The WAC wants to add more teams — at least another or two in football, and may invite another non-football school as well.
Some of the names bandied about include non-football schools Utah Valley and Cal State Bakersfield, which were considered this year.
Other schools mentioned for possible expansion in the future are Cal Poly, Lamar, Louisiana Lafayette, North Texas, Sacramento State, Sam Houston State, Montana and Montana State.
Montana turned down an invitation to join the WAC a while back.
And granted, the Griz and Montana State seem quite happy to stay in the Football Championship Subdivision, so they may be longshots to move up — but who thought years ago the college football landscape would evolve to what it looks like today?
Idaho played against Louisiana Lafayette and North Texas in the Sun Belt Conference from 2001-04, after the Vandals were in the Big West and before they were invited to join the WAC.
If all joined, that would mean Lamar, Sam Houston State and North Texas would join Texas State and Texas-San Antonio giving the WAC five teams in Texas alone. Throw in nearby Louisiana Tech and Louisiana Lafaytette and, well, a name change for the conference might be necessary.
Denver, another non-football school, also joins the WAC in 2012. By then, with Boise State, Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii long gone, WAC holdovers Idaho, San Jose State, Utah State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech might have a hard time recognizing their new-look league.
They didn’t get to play for a state title like many expected, but it was still a record-setting season for the Coeur d’Alene High baseball team.
The Vikings set the following school records — RBIs, 269 (old record was 246 in 2001); stolen bases, 120 (old record, 94 in 2009); ERA, 2.60 (old record, 2.91 in 1995); most wins, 25 (tied record set in 2001); and best record, 25-2 (Vikings were 25-3 in 2001).
Jake Pereira tied the school record with 10 wins (sharing the record with Tom Gatten), and set a school record for best record at 10-1.
Drew Turbin stole 30 bases, breaking his brother J.J.’s record of 27 set in 2009. He also hit 16 doubles, breaking the previous record of 12 held by Kyle Ahlf (2001), Shea Vucinich (2007), Devon Austin (2009) and Ryan Dunton (2010).
“Simply amazing. What a great group,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nick Rook said.
Coeur d’Alene lost 4-3 to Mountain View of Meridian in the first round at state, but battled back to win the 5A consolation title.
Lakeland High sophomore Troy Carr set three Hawks single-season baseball school records this year — all of which had stood for more than a decade.
Carr broke the single-season record in hits with 45 (previous record was 44 by Bryan Phelps in 1999), in batting average at .570 (previous record was .546 set by Brett DeBoer in 1996), and in on-base percentage at .697 (previous record was .663 set by Bryan Phelps in 1999).
Lakeland finished fifth at the state 4A tournament in Boise last month.
“If Troy keeps working hard and accumulates numbers comparable to this year, he should have a great chance to set all kinds of Lakeland baseball career records,” Lakeland baseball coach Jason Bradbury said. “I’d love to see it. He’s a great student-athlete, works tremendously hard, and is very coachable.”
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].