THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, July 3, 2015

On the surface, the news that came on June 10 was quite nice.

Matt Wardell, a 2011 Post Falls High graduate who recently completed his senior season as a shot putter at Washington State, earned a 3.41 grade-point average and the 22-year-old was named to the Pac-12 all-Academic men's track and field team.

Matt's 21-year-old younger brother, Sam Wardell, a 2012 Post Falls grad, just finished up his junior season and was named to the all-Academic team as an honorable mention with a 3.3 GPA. Matt was named to the all-Academic team for the third time, Sam was honorable mention as a sophomore. Sam majors in kinesiology and has aspirations to become a chiropractor.

"It's a tremendous honor," Matt said. "This is one of the elite conferences in the country. We were both honored."

Graduating with a double major in accounting and finance this spring, Matt has one more year of eligibility (because he redshirted as a sophomore) and is aiming to earn his master's degree in business.

"It's so detailed," Matt said of accounting. "You mess up a little bit, you could mis-track millions of dollars. Our master's program deals with data analytics, it looks at a set of data. I think I might want to get into that, because I've always been pretty good with numbers."

BUT BENEATH that honor, at least to some degree, lies an even neater story.

The Wardells moved to Post Falls from the town of Sturgis, N.D. - population 6,627 - in December 2008, when Matt was a high school sophomore, and Sam was a freshman.

For those not necessarily in the motorcycle community, Sturgis is the site of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - a meeting for motorcycle enthusiasts. When he was 14, Matt worked as a stockboy for a liquor store and no, he was not old enough to sell liquor.

"My dad knew the manager," Matt said. "Living there was awesome, everyone knew each other and was very friendly."

While Matt was a somewhat seasoned young thrower - his father Ardie Wardell had him throwing a 4-pound shot put when he was 8 - Sam started out as a basketball player, before developing a love for track and field as a sophomore.

"When I moved here, I took basketball more seriously," Sam said. "Once I competed in track, I really enjoyed the group of guys I was with, the environment. Once I switched to it before my junior year, I figured I'd be going full at it."

As a senior in the 2012 state 5A track and field meet at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, Sam finished sixth in the discus (154 feet, 7 inches) and eighth in the shot put (48-2).

In 2011 as a senior, Matt won the state shot put title (59-2) and he was third in the discus (155-11).

While both brothers are pretty competitive, Matt said he wanted to simply help Sam out. Plus, with the Cougars, Matt primarily competed in the shot put, while Sam competed in the weight and hammer throws, before shoulder injuries forced him to compete solely in the hammer this past season.

"I wanted to see him succeed," Matt said. "He got into track more seriously during his junior year and I just wanted to help him out."

During his senior year at Post Falls, Matt earned a partial scholarship to attend and compete for WSU. A year later, Sam made the Cougars as a walk-on.

Matt did pretty well as a freshman, finishing 14th at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, with a 50-foot heave. After redshirting his sophomore season, Matt threw a personal record for indoor shot put with a throw of 52-6 at the Vandal Indoor meet on Feb. 7, 2014. He tacked on a 15th-place finish in the MPSF Championships.

Throws coach Julie Taylor, who recently finished her first season at Washington State, spent the previous 24 seasons as an assistant at the University of Idaho under Wayne Phipps, who went to WSU to become its director of track and field.

"They're both super students and they have big goals academically," Taylor said. "They've both improved a lot. Sam has come a long way. It's funny, because they're two individuals, you wouldn't think they're brothers by looking at them. But they have a sarcastic, smart-alecky side. They want the best for each other."

Then came his senior season, in which Matt finally busted through his goal of throwing 55 feet.

At the Mountain Pacific Indoor Championships, I finally hit 55 in the shot put. It was a PR, it was a big moment, I hugged my coaches."

Sam had a slightly tougher time.

"It was a rough year throws-wise," Sam said. "As a sophomore, I had a PR of 164-11. I felt good going into this year, but I could never get that really good throw, so it never panned out."

BOTH BROTHERS had a very strong support system, both at home and at school, starting with Ardie and their mother, Kristi. They also have an older brother, Ben, 26, who is working on earning his physical therapy at the University of Jamestown in Jamestown, N.D.

Both had praise for Taylor.

"She knows a lot about throwing," Matt said. "She monitors with how we're at with conditioning; she does a fantastic job.

Sam seconds that and credited Trojans coaches and others with helping him develop quickly.

"Post Falls is a really good place for throwers, they've had a lot of good people there," Sam said. "I lifted a lot more with (local- and national-level throws coach) Bud Rasmussen, he maximized my weight training. Bart Templeman, founder of the Iron Wood Thrower Development Camp, the largest youth throws camp of its kind in the country, also helped Sam develop quickly.

"I was at his training facility three times a week," Sam said.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @ bourq25