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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Chance To Play In Pac-10 Lures Kerns To WSU

Greg Lee Staff Writer

Jennifer Kerns gave her father a special birthday present Tuesday, the day before the college basketball letter-of-intent signing period began.

She bought a Washington State University T-shirt for him. It was her way of announcing her final decision.

Then on Wednesday morning, the Lake City High School standout and Idaho A-1 Player of the Year made her decision official when she signed a letter of intent to WSU.

A 5-foot-7 point guard, Kerns chose WSU over Portland, Idaho and Pepperdine. In the last few days, though, she had narrowed her options to WSU and Portland.

“I felt comfortable in all four of my campus visits, but I felt more comfortable with the players and coaches at WSU,” Kerns said. “Playing in the Pac-10, against better competition, was a big thing to me. You can’t go anywhere else to find better competition.”

Kerns also welcomes the opportunity of playing against former Spokane Stars teammates Heather Owen of Moscow and Regan Freuen of Mead, both of whom just finished their freshman seasons at Stanford, an NCAA Final Four qualifier this year.

Kerns said Owen and Freuen were very helpful during the emotionally draining recruiting process. She logged several calls to Palo Alto, Calif., in recent weeks seeking encouragement from her friends.

“Heather called me the night before she left for the Final Four and told me she knew I could play (in the Pac10),” Kerns said. “It felt good to hear that from someone of her stature.”

Kerns, who recently was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Idaho, capped an impressive prep career this past season, leading the new Coeur d’Alene school to a state championship and 24-1 record. She played on two state title teams at CdA High, including the undefeated 1993-94 state title team (25-0).

She averaged 14.3 points, 5.1 assists and four steals this year. Last fall, she was named the A-1 Player of the Year in soccer.

Home sweet home

David Roberts will leave the head boys basketball coaching job at Kellogg with few regrets.

One came to mind last week, however, after he accepted the head coaching job at tradition-rich Meridian.

Had he stayed in Kellogg, Roberts was planning on assisting new football coach Shawn Amos.

“That’s one of the things I was looking forward to doing if I didn’t get the (Meridian) job,” Roberts said. “Shawn is going to turn football around and I was looking forward to coaching with him.”

It was time for a new challenge for the Kellogg High grad, though. Among Roberts’ career goals was the desire to coach in the A-1 ranks, the largest classification in Idaho.

Returning to Meridian, where Roberts, 29, has lived half his life, fulfills the goal.

“How many people get the opportunity to be a head coach in two hometowns?” Roberts asked.

His successor will take over a healthy program. Two starters return in junior 6-foot-6 post Casey Fisher, who will challenge for the A-2 Player of the Year honor next season, and junior guard Jeremy Behm. Reserve junior guard Tim Kohal and a handful of underclassmen will compete for starting jobs.

“They should have a great team next year,” said Roberts, whose team this season shared the league title with Bonners Ferry and captured the district championship. “If I was staying I’d expect Kellogg to fight for a league championship.

“There’s talent coming up. The tradition of Kellogg basketball has been strong over the years and I don’t see Kellogg ever dipping to a point where it’s at the bottom of the league.”

Roberts certainly maintained Kellogg’s tradition in his five years. His teams were 68-50 during that span and his final team captured its first state trophy (consolation title) since 1981.

Roberts is highly respected among his peers.

“North Idaho loses a very good coach,” said Lake City coach Jim Winger, whose teams the past three years have played home-and-home, non-league games against Kellogg. “It’s a great opportunity for him. He’s the perfect person for the job at Meridian.”

Athletic director Ralph Lowe said the coaching job will be opened inside and outside the district. He hopes to name a replacement in a month.

Track meets

Beginning Saturday, there will be invitational meets in the Panhandle each weekend leading to state-qualifying meets in mid-May.

Coeur d’Alene and Lake City will send a handful of athletes to the 34th annual Pasco Invitational.

Closer to home, seven teams will attend the Post Falls Co-Ed Relays on Saturday. The low-key meet puts an emphasis on a school’s combined boys and girls teams.

Running relays will feature alternating boy-girl exchanges, while individual field and jumping events combine the top male and female results to determine combined event winners. Individual times in the low and high hurdles will be combined to score relay points.

Individual field events begin at 10 a.m., with most of the running events and relays beginning about noon.

Fields of Dreams

The on-again, off-again development of the athletic complex at Coeur d’Alene High School is very much on again.

If things go as planned, soccer teams could use the new playing field south of Viking Field as soon as this fall.

Plans call for the soccer, baseball and softball fields to be seeded in early May. The baseball and softball fields are expected to be ready for play next spring.