THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, March 6, 2015

Logan Feasline, a 6-foot-2, 225 pound senior post on the St. Maries boys basketball team, has been an invaluable member of Lumberjacks teams in three sports, including football and track and field.

ON JAN. 30, Feasline was accepted into the Air Force Academy, to study astronomical or aerospace engineering and he will also compete in track and field as a discus and hammer thrower, with the possibility down the line of competing in shot put, if he gains enough weight.

In early July at Eastern Washington University, Feasline met Keith Vance, the former Boise State throws coach who is the Air Force throws coach.

"I was getting recruited by a couple schools - Idaho, Utah State and Air Force," Feasline said. "I kind of looked at them and decided I'd look at their facilities and knew they were all D-I level. Then I looked at them and decided on the people (who attended each college). I went there (to Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo.) and the people there were incredible, so that's where I should go."

Feasline talked with Lindeman at the Iron Wood camp for high school throwers.

"What originally got me interested was I have a coach in Coeur d'Alene named Bart Templeman," Feasline said. "He has a camp every summer and the Air Force coach came there and he talked with me and said he was interested. I looked at it and saw that it was a pretty cool deal. He knew about me because he did his research and he called me before and we met that day and we talked over breakfast."

Feasline has a 3.66 cumulative grade-point average and is the Associated Student Body president. He will major in either astronomical or aerospace engineering.

"I really like building stuff," Feasline said. "The aerospace stuff came from I really love working with model rocketry, so I figured that I might as well do that in the big scale?"

ON MAY 17 at Middleton High, located 32 miles west of Boise, Logan as a junior competed in the state 2A track and field meet. He finished second in the discus, with a throw of 167-feet, 2-inches, beating his older brother Luke, who was a senior. Luke finished seventh (136-11). Luke beat Logan in the shot put, winning with a throw of 52-10 1/2, while Logan finished third (47-8 3/4).

"It was really cool," Logan said of finishing so close to his brother. "He was a two-time state champion, so it was really exciting to be on a podium with your brother. There's three of us up there and we're two of them."

Luke is a backup freshman quarterback on the football team at NAIA school Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, and ran one kick return this past season. He is also on the track and field team.

FOR THE first time since 2012, when the Lumberjacks were a 3A program, St. Maries' boys basketball team reached the state tournament, this time as a 2A school. The Lumberjacks (17-4) were tied for fourth in the final 2A media poll.

The Lumberjacks took a dramatic route to get there, beating Orofino 51-50 on a free throw by Dakota Wilson with six seconds left in the championship game of the 2A District 1-2 tournament on Feb. 24 at Deary High.

Feasline is St. Maries' leading scorer with 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

"He had a high ankle sprain, he missed the last four games of the regular season," St. Maries boys basketball coach Bryan Chase said. "We missed him terribly. Against Orofino, he had 12 points and eight rebounds. His presence rebounding was the difference."

Feasline said he recovered at least two weeks quicker than usual, thanks in part to working with his father, Mark Feasline, who is a physical therapist. His mother is Kelly Feasline and his older sister, Laura, is exactly 10 years older and he has another sister named Lea.

Chase said Feasline has been a strong leader on and off the court.

"He's probably the nicest kid I've ever met," Chase said. "He's very professional, no matter who we play, he's so mild-mannered. He came so far as fast as working out, getting stronger."

Feasline and his teammates are certainly looking forward to the 343-mile trip to Capital High in Boise.

"I haven't gone to state because when I was a freshman, I wasn't good enough," Logan Feasline said. "We had a pretty good year last year but we didn't always play well as a team. It's like all that hard work is paying off. It's really cool to make it to something."

The Lumberjacks will approach their weekend as if they have nothing to lose. On Thursday against District 4 champion Declo, St. Maries won, 58-54. At 5:15 p.m. tonight in the semifinals, the Lumberjacks will play against Soda Springs.

"They way we see it is we're just as good, if not better than the teams down there," Feasline said. "So there's no reason to be scared. We'll just go ahead and play to win, we're ready for it. If we're going to go down, we might as well win the thing."

Feasline was the quarterback on a St. Maries football team this past fall that went 6-4, won five games or more for the first time since 1995 and reached the quarterfinals of the state 2A football playoffs, losing 23-6 on Nov. 8 at Orofino.

"Our junior class kind of spent some time in the shadows behind last year's seniors," Feasline said. "This year we ended up playing well as a team. We didn't have any guys who were real selfish with the ball or anything. We were about winning, it wasn't a one-person job."

ON FEB. 6 at St. Maries, a pretty special thing happened. Lumberjacks varsity player Xan Rose, who was born with Trisomy 9P, a chromosomal disorder that is similar to Down Syndrome that stunted the 5-foot senior's growth, fulfilled a goal he had since his JV days by starting in three of the last four varsity games in the regular season.

That February night, during a basketball game against Kellogg, Rose was in the starting lineup. Off the opening tip, with both teams allowing him to take a 14-foot shot, Rose nailed it and the packed crowd cheered loudly.

In three of the last four games, Rose scored the first basket of the game.

"He played last year on the team," Chase said. "This year, I talked to the seniors and we decided to get him some playing time on the JV to get some minutes. In the last half of the season, we moved him up to varsity and the kids really embraced that and when he's in the game, they really want to make sure he gets a basket. We moved him up on senior night against Kellogg and they were really good about it, they helped us make sure we got him that first basket."

St. Maries has learned a few life lessons from Rose.

"He's inspired us a lot," Chase said. "They see the smile on his face and it makes it all worthwhile. Xan is so happy and the crowd embraces him and they go crazy. One time, on January 17 against Grangeville, we were down about 10 points at the end of the third quarter and there's a locker room and our crowd goes crazy and I said, 'We must be making a good comeback. And all the kids looked at me like I was dumb and they looked at me and said, 'No, it's that loud because Xan just made a basket.'"

Feasline said the team has learned a lot from Rose.

"We like the little guy," Feasline said. "He's part of the team now. He was really made last year, when he didn't make varsity. But now he plays. We realize how lucky we are to go out every day and do what you want to do, because he doesn't get the same opportunities we get with our abilities. He's definitely shown us to make the best out of your situation."

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at [email protected]