The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT March 30, 2011

A few things ran through my mind as I sat around looking at the remains of my NCAA tournament bracket and games I failed to pick.

Whether or not I realized it at the time, I've got to admit, it was a good winter to be a sports fan in Kootenai County.

BETWEEN WATCHING as the North Idaho Cardinal women went unbeaten at home and the Cardinal wrestling team finished as runner-up at the NJCAA tournament at the Spokane Convention Center, it was a rather exciting year to be a part of the NIC program.

Just over a week ago, the women's basketball team made history by becoming the first women's team in school history to win a national title with a 90-81 win over Trinity Valley (Tex.) in Salina, Kan.

The team held double-digit leads in every game and for a while, made things look easy and impressed those unfamiliar with what has been going on along the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene for the past two seasons.

Even more impressive - a good number of those players are actually from North Idaho.

With three players from Coeur d'Alene, three from the Lewiston/Moscow area and one from Rathdrum, along with some from the surrounding areas in Washington, most of the players taking the floor this season weren't all that far from home.

To go 32-3 for any team is incredible, but to do it with a large number of local players says a lot about the high school programs in the area and more about the ability to mesh it all together for a common goal.

Action at the NJCAA wrestling tournament was as good as advertised, with both NIC and Clackamas Community College going back and forth throughout most of the weekend to determine who was going to walk away with the national title.

Even if NIC wasn't able to bring the title back east on I-90, finishing second isn't exactly the worst thing to happen.

THIS WINTER didn't just go right for local college teams, some high schools teams shared in the success as well.

I remember being on the sidelines during a Coeur d'Alene High football game and listening to Kent Leiss talking up his boys basketball team and just how good they could be.

At that point, the Vikings were in the middle of a run toward a state football championship, so thinking about hoops at that point should have made me aware he meant business.

When the Cd'A girls won the first Holiday Inn Express Invitational at NIC over Federal Way, it should have set off a warning that they were coming to play the remainder of the year.

And that was without having sophomore forward Kendalyn Brainard and freshman guard Carli Williams even in the lineup.

Both came back la few days later and later helped the Vikings to another state championship game at the Idaho Center.

A week after the girls state tournament, the Coeur d'Alene wrestling team won a second consecutive 5A title after Caleb Davis pinned Tim Hartwig of Caldwell in a match that was going to determine the team title.

Should this weather ever change - the thoughts of the winter months will slowly go away.

Those memories are worth keeping a while longer.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.