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Prep girls basketball
postseason play starts tonight
No. 1 seed Lake City (18-3, 6-0 5A Inland Empire League) will play host to No. 4 Lewiston (9-11, 1-5), and No. 2 Coeur d’Alene (6-10, 3-3) will be home vs. No. 3 Post Falls (5-16, 2-4), as the 5A Region 1 high school girls basketball tournament begins tonight.
Both games are scheduled to tip off at 6:30.
Tonight’s winners advance to the regional championship game Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the site of the higher seed. That winner advances to state Feb. 14-16 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Tonight’s losers play Tuesday at 6:30 at the higher seed in a loser-out game. The two remaining teams meet next Thursday at the higher seed for second place and a berth in a state play-in game Feb. 9 at Grangeville.
Many with local ties on new pro football league rosters
Former Idaho football standouts Matt Linehan and Austin Rehkow made the final 52-man roster for the Salt Lake Stallions in the inaugural season of the Alliance of American Football.
Linehan and Rehkow will play for former Vandal head coach Dennis Erickson. The Stallions begin their 10-week regular season Feb. 10, at Arizona. Salt Lake will play its home games at Rice-Eccles Stadium, home of the University of Utah football team. Erickson is a former Ute assistant coach.
Linehan is one of three quarterbacks on the roster. He will compete for playing time with Josh Woodrum (Liberty) and Austin Allen (Arkansas).
Rehkow is the Stallions’ lone punter.
Erickson will lead the Stallions in their first season.
Randy Mueller, a St. Maries native, is general manager of the Salt Lake team.
Matt Troxel, former Lake City High standout, is offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach of the San Antonio Commanders. Troxel, son of former Lake City football coach Van Troxel, is a former assistant at Idaho State, Montana and Oregon State. San Antonio’s head coach is Mike Riley, who was born in Wallace.
The AAF is in its first season and features eight teams around the country. The 12-week season includes 10 regular season games and two weeks of playoffs, culminating with the AAF Championship Game April 27 in Las Vegas. The first game of the AAF season will be televised on CBS. Each successive week will include one game televised by CBS Sports Network.
Junior Bloomsday
to return in April
SPOKANE — Jr. Bloomsday, presented by The Children’s Choice Dentistry, will be run on Saturday, April 20 — two weeks prior to the Lilac Bloomsday Run on Sunday, May 5.
Registration for Jr. Bloomsday will open at 9 a.m. today at www.bloomsdayrun.org. Entry is limited to the first 3,000 kids to register.
Jr. Bloomsday will be run at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds and will start and finish at Avista Stadium — home of the Spokane Indians baseball team. The course will be 1.25 miles in length and kids will finish at home plate on the baseball diamond.
Kids in the grades 3-7 are eligible to participate.
Each finisher will receive a limited edition Finisher T-shirt — the design and color, just like the 12k race, will be kept secret until race day. Kids will also receive a souvenir bracelet. Each participant will be chip timed and receive an official finish time.
Jr. Bloomsday’s entry fee is $20. Proceeds from Jr. Bloomsday will benefit Active4Youth, a non-profit organization that promotes exercise in elementary schools throughout the Spokane region to combat childhood obesity and delinquency.
“For Moms and Dads who grew up in Spokane in the 80s and 90s, they will be thrilled to introduce their kids to the race that got them excited about running. For parents, this will be a nostalgic race,” Jr. Bloomsday Race Director Jon Neill said.
Jr. Bloomsday began in the 1980s and was hosted at Joe Albi Stadium. The race, like the 12k run, surged in popularity with participation numbers in the thousands. The name Jr. Bloomsday was discontinued in the 90s.
The Lilac Bloomsday Association decided the time was right to re-launch the iconic and wildly popular children’s race from Bloomsday’s early years. Youth running has exploded in the Spokane region thanks to great efforts by the Active4Youth cross country program and Bloomsday’s own Fit For Bloomsday program. Both programs combined have approximately 13,000 participants.
Bloomsday’s other children’s race, Marmot March, will continue to be held on Saturday, May 4 of Bloomsday weekend. Marmot March is available for kids third grade and younger.