The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT May 14, 2011

Just as quickly as they were awarded scholarships to golf at North Idaho College, they were almost gone.

After nearly failing to qualify as freshmen for the NIC golf team, both Kris Brett and Jeremy Jensen have gone from poor academic standing to making the academic honor roll in the fall semester of their sophomore year.

BRETT AND JENSEN had 2.0 grade point averages as freshmen, making them barely eligible to play. If they had slipped below 2.0, they would have been ineligible.

"Both of them were very focused on their goals on the golf course," NIC coach Derrick Thompson said. "I told them none of them were going to come true if they didn't work just as hard in the classroom. Playing is a privilege and can be taken away quickly. Between going to school for eight hours, golf for three to four and sleeping - that extra time starts to diminish."

Since that point, both Jensen and Brett have found that balance that escaped them in their first semester.

"The hardest thing for me was adjusting as a freshman to all the obligations," Brett said. "Between classes, homework and practice - it was tough to get everything done.

"Our team has always had the lowest GPA among the sports teams at NIC," Jensen said. "We figured we owed it to our coaches and the school to try and improve on that."

Brett, from Grand Junction, Colo., transferred from Monterey Peninsula College in California in 2009 after one semester.

"It was real close," said Brett of his academic eligibility. "Had some of those credits from my previous school not transferred over, I would have had to have taken some classes over winter break to get eligible."

“If it wasn’t for my fall GPA,” Jensen said, “I would have had to take summer classes to catch up.”

Between the spring and fall semester this year, the duo found that balance they’d been searching for.

“As close as we were to being ineligible, we knew we had to step it up — both on the course and academically,” Brett said. “After a few stern talks from our parents and coaches, we got the message.”

“It’s 100 percent better to receive an award for your academics than athletics,” Jensen said. “Knowing that our team was the lowest GPA made us look and feel bad.”

“I think that idea of having it all taken away shocked them back into reality,” Thompson said. “It really put things in perspective for them.”

NIC could be considered for an academic All-American award with a 2.8 team GPA, with Brett and Jensen improving to over a 3.0 in the fall semester.

“We’ll be leaving probably the best coach around,” Jensen said of Thompson. “From coaching us to helping us stay focused on our academics, it’s going to be hard to match that. Coach Thompson really taught us people skills more than anything else.”

Jensen and Brett have verbally committed to play next year at NAIA Montana State University-Northern in Havre, Mont. MSU-Northern is starting a golf program next year.

Jensen added it will be a special homecoming.

“I grew up there,” Jensen said. “We’ve got some good players coming and we’ve got a good chance to show our potential. We’re going together to start the program. It will be an honor for us and we’ll get a chance to finish what we started.”

BOTH FEEL the Cardinals can compete with the best next week at the NJCAA tournament, which runs Tuesday through Friday at the Odessa (Texas) Country Club.

“We’re playing at our best right now,” Jensen said. “Having the experience will help.”

Both played at nationals last year for NIC, which finished 17th.

The NIC women compete at nationals Monday through Thursday in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Cardinals finished 13th last year.

The men played a tournament preview event at Odessa Country Club in October, something Jensen thinks about daily.

“I’ve been going through that course in my head,” Jensen said. “I’ve been thinking about shots and where everything is and trying to prepare myself for that. It should help to play a couple of practice rounds. If we can play well, we should be in good shape.”

“If we play like we have been, we’ll be tough to beat,” Brett said.

THOMPSON LIKES the chances of both NIC squads at nationals.

“I think we can go there and compete,” said Thompson of the NIC women, ranked 13th in the NJCAA. “We’ve got two veterans (Kayla Lloyd and Emily Thorud) back from last year’s team. We played poorly on the first day last year and could have definitely been either 10th or 11th.”

“It’s really hard to say what will happen,” he added. “So much of our story this year has been the weather. It’s tough to tell what we’ll have, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

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 email at [email protected].