THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Foster siblings: Luck for one, but abrupt end for the other

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow around the nation, Drake Foster lucked out a little bit.

He had the opportunity to finish his senior year the right way, on a wrestling mat in a national tournament — just before the mass shutdown of sporting events.

His younger sister, Cierra, wasn’t as fortunate.

DRAKE FOSTER, who competed at Wyoming, had lost his love for the sport after three seasons of the Division I grind.

“Originally, when I left (Wyoming), I was going to come back home and find a job,” said Drake, who along with Cierra wrestled at Post Falls High. “I was looking at other local schools to finish up at, and then was going to find a job and start working.”

As for what led to his transfer ...

“I think it was more of the heavy schedule and heavy workload,” Drake said. “Wrestling at the Division I level, it’s really demanding. And it’s where it lost it to me.”

Then, Drake’s phone rang.

“My college roommate was friends with Sam Hazewinkel, the coach at Oklahoma City,” Drake said. “He eventually persuaded me to come and give it a shot.”

At Oklahoma City, Drake was reunited with Cierra, who wrestles for the women’s program at the NAIA school.

“Having Cierra there already was just a bonus to me,” Drake said. “I ended up loving it there.”

Drake, a three-time state champion at Post Falls, where he graduated in 2015, competed in the NAIA Championships on March 6-7 in Park City, Kan., finishing fourth at 133 pounds and earning All-American honors.

“It was a little bittersweet,” Drake said. “I was really happy after all of that to be an All-American, but it sucked because it was my first — and last — national tournament.”

AS FOR Cierra, she along with her teammates made the journey to Jamestown, S.D., for the women’s national tournament, which was scheduled to begin March 13.

“We left Oklahoma City a few days beforehand and flew to Fargo,” said Cierra, a sophomore. “We did some training for a day, and then traveled down to Jamestown.”

The team was preparing like everything was going to go on as scheduled.

“All of my teammates were gearing up and we were pumped for nationals,” said Cierra, who was wrestling at 123 pounds. “We were ready to get in and get some Ws.”

On March 11 — two days before the start of the tournament — plans began to change.

“We were told that they were going to go on with the tournament, but only have six people per wrestler in the stadium with us,” Cierra said. “Which was more than enough. But we continued to practice, and were one workout away from being ready to go.”

On March 12, one day from the official start of the tournament, the NAIA canceled the tournament.

“As soon as they made that decision, we left to go back to Fargo,” Cierra said. “Our coach had to change our airplane tickets and get us home the next day. We left out of Fargo at 5 a.m. and went back to Oklahoma City. All of the teams had to get up early and fly out.”

Cierra, a 2017 Post Falls grad, was sixth in the nation as a freshman in 2018 and redshirted during the 2018-19 season.

“Honestly, it was kind of ridiculous,” Cierra said. “We were wrestling against each other on the mats two days before the tournament started, so we could have still continued on. Our seniors, they were done no matter what after nationals, so I was sad for them.”

AND WHILE Drake might have wrestled his final collegiate match, he’s grateful for how his career turned out.

“There was a lot of different classifications that didn’t get to wrestle,” Drake said. “If our tournament was a week later, we wouldn’t have gotten to wrestle either. I’m extremely lucky and happy with how it worked out. The coach is a great dude, and everything was perfect for me. Everyone on the team accepted me right away. I’ll probably remain at the school and be an assistant coach there.”

Cierra was accepted into a work-study research program at the University of Nebraska this summer that is still on.

She’ll be back at Oklahoma City this fall, with two more years of eligibility remaining.

“I’m looking to get into a PhD program eventually,” Cierra said. “The program at Nebraska starts at the end of May, and it’s looking like it’s a go and we’ve been told to get our tickets. I’ll be able to train at Nebraska during that time.”

Cierra added that the pandemic has intrigued her a little.

“It’s definitely interesting,” Cierra said. “I want to someday do lab work, whether that’s engineering or trying to find a cure.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@JECdAPress.