THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, December 26, 2015

We took a look back to some of the top stories of 2015 in Friday’s paper.

So, why not think ahead to what could be a very good 2016 in area athletics.

IN CASE you’ve missed it, there’s more than a handful of teams out to impressive starts as the regular season heads to the start of 2016 next week.

The Post Falls High wrestling team is out to quite the impressive start to its season, winning the Sidney Duals and bracketed tournament on the opening weekend of the season on Dec. 4-5.

Last weekend’s run at the Tri-State Invitational, with freshman Ridge Lovett and senior Alius De La Rosa winning individual titles as the Trojans ran away with a second straight team championship isn’t too shabby either.

They’ll try to keep things rolling next week when they travel to the Hall of Fame Duals in Moses Lake, where Post Falls coach Pete Reardon knows his team will need to be ready.

“Moses Lake is a great dual team,” Reardon said. “It’s going to be a big challenge for our kids, but we’re ready for it.”

If they meet that challenge, there’s no reason why repeating as state 5A champion — no matter how tough that task might be for a team from the north — isn’t out of the question if they can avoid injuries and competing at the same level that they’ve done without hesitation for the last year.

FOR AS good of a start that the Post Falls boys basketball team has gotten out to — they’ll enter the start of Monday’s Lake City Invitational with a 5-3 record — it’s even more impressive with the Trojans yet to play a home game at The Arena.

Crazy, I know.

Post Falls went 1-2 and finished fourth in the Curtis High of Tacoma tournament in its last three games, with this week’s games serving as a chance for those fans that haven’t quite had the chance to see the team in person a chance to get out and see them play — finally.

If you desirea the setting in The Arena, the Trojans will finish with six of their final 10 games at home.

Speaking of good starts, the North Idaho College men’s basketball team could reach 20 wins before the school returns from its holiday break.

NIC, currently 15-0 and climbing the NJCAA polls, will host the Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational starting Monday night when the team hosts Grays Harbor at 7:30 p.m.

Already 3-0 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play, and playing an entertaining rivalry game against the College of Southern Idaho on Dec. 12 at Rolly Williams Court.

They’ll be one of the teams to watch when the Region 18 tournament rolls around in that final weekend of February in Twin Falls.

What might be the bigger question, is with this hot start, could the NIC team already be destined for the NJCAA tournament for the first time in over a decade?

BUT WHEN it comes to winning a championship, could this finally, finally, be the year that the Timberlake Tigers girls basketball team gets the job done at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

They’ve been close — four out of the last five years — as the state 3A runner-up, but have been up to every challenge thrown their way this season.

Against Lewiston, in Lewiston, the Tigers came up short in a 54-52 loss to the 5A Bengals.

And that was missing some of Timberlake’s key contributors, so are getting healthier at the right time.

There’s no guarantees with anything, and each and every team will get back to work as soon as they get back from break, if not sooner.

A few of them coming true however, will be a really good start.

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 jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.