THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Hand sanitizers, and other memories of winter sports

It was less that four weekends ago that everything seemed “normal.”

The state high school boys basketball tournaments went on as usual in the Boise area.

Sure, there were precautions being taken, especially at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, site of the 5A tournament, as well as the championship games in all six classifications.

But also at the other sites as well.

Signs in the restrooms, reminding us to wash our hands thoroughly.

At at least one site, I remember workers, wearing rubber gloves, coming in and occasionally spraying and wiping down the sinks, etc., in the restroom.

On the long hallway in the Idaho Center, which leads to, among other things, four locker rooms used by the teams, there were signs of caution, as well as a container of hand sanitizer attached to one of the walls.

As one team ran down the long hallway toward the arena floor before its game, in a single line, the first player in line veered off to the right and stuck his hand under the container of hand sanitizer.

As did the next player.

And the next.

So when thinking back on memories of the recently completed winter sports season in high school, I’ll remember the state champions and the other memorable stories.

But I’ll also remember the signs of caution, the rubber gloves and the hand sanitizers.

MEMORIES INCLUDE ...

• Lake City beating Post Falls in a wrestling dual for the first time in more than a decade.

• Of course, Post Falls going on to win its third straight state wrestling title, and fifth in six seasons, this time in narrow fashion, continuing its recent dominance of the state’s largest classification. And once again, North Idaho was strong in wrestling, with Coeur d’Alene finishing fourth, Lake City fifth in 5A, Lakeland fourth in 4A, and Timberlake third in 3A.

• Lakeland beating Coeur d’Alene in girls basketball for the first time since 2005.

• Post Falls boys basketball coach Mike McLean wheeling his way down the aforementioned long hallway at the Idaho Center, on his knee scooter, to meet with reporters after his team lost to Borah in the state championship game. He didn’t have to do that; we could have walked down to the end of the hallway where the Trojans’ locker room was.

• McLean coaching, from behind his team’s bench, from a motorized wheelchair, after he dislocated his right ankle, and suffered multiple fractures of his talus, in a mishap on his farm on Super Bowl Sunday. Following surgery, he coached mostly standing up, at regionals and state, with the aid of his knee scooter and an iWalk.

• A power outage on a Friday night in late January at Post Falls High, where the girls’ game with Lewiston was completed under reduced lighting, and the boys’ game was moved 7 miles to Lake City High — much like 8 years ago, when Post Falls’ regional title game at Coeur d’Alene was moved to NIC due to a leaky roof at Elmer Jordan Court discovered during the pregame warmups.

• Lake City and Lakeland playing a pair of “instant classics” in boys basketball — Lake City’s 72-70 win at Rathdrum on a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, and Lake City’s 102-94 triple-overtime win over the Hawks in the rematch six weeks later in the Timberwolves’ gym.

• Lake City starting three freshmen — almost unheard of at the 5A level and definitely unheard of in Jim Winger’s two-plus decades as Timberwolves coach.

• Coeur d’Alene’s return to prominence in girls basketball — the Vikings making it back to state for the first time since 2014, the end of a run where Coeur d’Alene qualified for state 10 straight times, winning four titles and finishing second three times.

• North Idaho College’s men’s basketball team making big plays down the stretch to beat regional rival Community Colleges of Spokane in overtime on CCS’s home court. Spokane wound up the East Region’s top seed to an NWAC men’s conference tournament that was never played, but only because NIC, which went undefeated in league play, was ineligible for the postseason.

AND THE biggest non-coronavirus memory of the winter sports season, of course, was the Lakeside boys basketball team, and the Knights’ march to a state 1A Division II title.

Walking in to the gym at North Idaho College for Lakeside’s district title game, the first thing you notice is the bright lights illuminating Rolly Williams Court — more intense lighting than you see in a high school gym.

Lakeside and Genesis Prep were almost literally in the spotlight as they played for a trip to state. And while Genesis Prep put up a good fight, as you would expect a program with two state titles and two third-place finishes at state in the last four years, Lakeside held up well under the bright lights, pulling away to win by 21 points and advance to state for the first time since 2015.

At state, the Knights put on a show in the Treasure Valley, winning their three games by an average of 20 points, setting a tournament scoring record in their classification, winning for a coach who played on Lakeside’s previous state title team in 1997, and honoring a fallen teammate from just prior to the season along the way.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.