THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT, November 6, 2013

Not one.

Not two.

But three state championships over the weekend for the Coeur d'Alene High athletic department on Saturday afternoon.

BETWEEN TITLES in girls cross country, boys swimming and coed water polo, the Vikings had plenty to celebrate on the ride home from southern Idaho.

"It feels great," said Coeur d'Alene junior cross country runner Kara Story, who finished sixth. "It really shows how great our team is and how hard we've worked and what happens when we set our minds to it."

Now, I know what you're thinking ... water polo?

Every year, at the conclusion of the state swimming championships in Boise, some schools have formed teams to compete for another championship.

Teams play three round-robin games, with a fourth to determine a championship.

Coeur d'Alene - in its first year putting together a team - beat Eagle 10-3, Hillcrest 9-4 and Lake City 11-3 to advance to the championship game against Bishop Kelly of Boise.

"It was a real David vs. Goliath matchup," Coeur d'Alene swimming coach Rich Swoboda said.

Bishop Kelly hadn't lost in the five years they'd held the polo championship.

That was, until the Vikings won 7-6 in overtime on Saturday night in Boise.

"It was a great game against them," Coeur d'Alene water polo coach Mark Collingham said. "We had a pool full of people watching them and there was lots of cheering and screaming. The kids have been working hard to pull together as a team."

Water polo is a club sport at both Coeur d'Alene and Lake City, with teams often practicing with masters players at the Kroc Center.

THE CLINCHING goal in overtime was scored by Dyson Savage, who earlier that day swam on the school's winning 4x400 relay team at state swimming.

"We had called a play where Dyson was supposed to take a foul," Collingham said. "He did that, scored on the play and did exactly what he was supposed to. The kids just played smart polo. Bishop Kelly was a little bigger than us size-wise, but we found a way to win. It took a second for everyone to realize what happened, then the crowd roared. It doesn't get much better than that."

As for the future of the polo championships, with most, if not all swimmers competing earlier that day in the state swimming meet, Collingham said that moving water polo to another day might be a good idea.

"Most of the kids are just tired after swimming all day, then playing four matches," Collingham said. "I would like to make the tournament separate than the (swim) championships."

Regardless, thanks to a few wins, Saturday turned into the day of the Viking in a hurry.

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]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

Associated Press

PULLMAN - Two-time Pac-12 leading scorer Brock Motum may be gone to graduation but that has Washington State coach Ken Bone looking to shore up his defense.

Bone wants the Cougars to be much more aggressive on defense this season.

"The last few years, we have played fairly passive," Bone said. "When I talk about aggressiveness, I'm talking about denial defense, on the ball pressure, but hopefully not using our hands a whole lot and fouling."

The emphasis on defense is a return to the style of play favored by former coach Tony Bennett, who led the Cougars to their most successful seasons in decades before leaving for Virginia following the 2008-09 season.

Bone, who replaced Bennett, said the Cougars' depth at guard is a major reason for the defensive emphasis.

"I feel we have good quickness and depth in the back court and we want to take advantage of that," Bone said.

Motum, who averaged 18 points a game last season, and point guard Mike Ladd are the top departures from a team that finished 13-19 overall, 4-14 and tied for 11th in the Pac-12. That ended a streak of six straight winning seasons.

see WSU, B6

Many of the losses were close, with games decided in the closing minutes.

"I'm hoping that we have better poise down the stretch," Bone said.

The Cougars had been counting on junior college transfer Danny Lawhorn to play point guard this season, but he recently quit the team and the job will likely fall to Royce Woolridge again.

Guard Que Johnson, who was not eligible to play last season, will finally get a chance to show what he can do, Bone said. Johnson had recently been slowed by a stress fracture, but has resumed practice.

"He was thrown out there and he was pretty good immediately," Bone said.

Another newcomer is freshman guard Ike Iroegbu.

"He's going to be a very good player in this league," Bone said.

Veterans who are back from last year include Will Dilorio, Dexter Kernich-Drew and Junior Longrus, who played all 32 games as a freshman.

The Cougars are predicted to finish last in the conference, but that doesn't bother starting guard Davonte Lacy.

"We don't have to subscribe to it," he said. "We can run with it and use that as a stepping stone, as like a chip on our shoulder."

Woolridge said the Cougars have higher aspirations.

"We want to win 20-plus games," he said. "We want to do really well in the Pac-12 this year."

No one player can make up for Motum's scoring production, Woolridge said.

"This year we've got a lot of different scorers on our team," he said. "When it's not just one person, everyone feels they have a part on the team."

Five things to watch as Washington State opens its season:

RETURNING STARTERS: The Cougars return three starters in Lacy, Woolridge and forward D.J. Shelton. Woolridge, who played point guard last season, is the top returning scorer at 11 points per game, while Lacy averaged 10.5 points and Shelton averaged 6 points and 6 rebounds.

NEW COACHES: Veteran assistant coach Ben Johnson left the program to return to Australia. Former Boise State head coach Rod Jensen was promoted to assistant coach, and Tim Marrion replaced him as director of player development.

HOT SEAT: Bone, whose record of 70-65 at WSU represents the sixth-most wins in team history, could be on the hot seat in his fifth season. He has never taken the Cougars to the NCAA tournament, and attendance averaged just 4,900 at the 11,000-seat Friel Court last season.

THE SCHEDULE: The Cougars have non-conference games this season at Gonzaga and against Butler, TCU and UTEP. They travel to the Old Spice Classic in Florida, and play San Francisco State in Kennewick and Utah in Spokane.

LEATHER AND LACY: Lacy, a junior, is on pace to become the 34th Cougars to score 1,000 career points. He also could end as one of the top 3-point shooters in program history.