Greg Lee: Many highlights during winter prep season

The 2007-08 winter sports season was all about achieving and over- achieving for the Coeur d’Alene High girls and boys basketball teams.

Here’s a look back at the highlights throughout the region:

Boys basketball

In a word, Coeur d’Alene overachieved.

The Vikings advanced to the state title game, squeezing the most out of their talent.

Senior guard Nate Clinton told reporters that he wasn’t satisfied with finishing second. I understand the competitive nature behind Clinton’s comment. He plays to win and anything less isn’t satisfactory. But in time Clinton and his teammates will be able to appreciate what the Vikings accomplished.

Clinton and senior Andrew Prohaska were three-year starters. They were the lone returning starters from the team that lost in the game for fourth last year. Seniors Johnny Carlson, Jon Latorre, Brad Mitchell and Taki Ahhee, along with sophomores Devon Austin and Connor Williams, all found their roles and filled them well this season.

The Vikings were short last year and graduation rendered them shorter this season. But if they proved anything this year, they showed that lack of height can be overcome with tenacious, never-back-down play.

The Vikings, the shortest team in the state field and likely the shortest team among all 5A teams in the state, had no business playing for a state title. This team didn’t have the most gifted basketball players. But the one intangible that can’t be measured, as Madison coach Bill Hawkins appropriately pointed out, is heart. From his perspective the Vikings had more heart than anything else.

Hawkins ought to know. His team lost to CdA twice this year – in the second game of the season and at state. He saw CdA up close and personal.

This must be said: The state tourney field, as a whole, wasn’t as talented as most years. State champ Vallivue was clearly the best team this season. But the Falcons would have difficulty beating any of the state champs in the past 10 years.

Lewiston qualified for state for the seventh time under seven-year coach Dave Cornelia. The Bengals were perhaps the most challenged team on offense that Cornelia has had. But they knocked off a Lake City team that should have qualified for state twice in the Region I tournament and beat Madison for fourth.

Cornelia will return the core of the team and it will be favored to win the Inland Empire League next year. CdA coach Kent Leiss, the no-brainer pick as the coach of the year in the Panhandle, must rebuild. He’ll field his youngest team in terms of varsity experience.

Post Falls will return its talented young core, and the Trojans will challenge Lewiston, as will Lake City.

“Intermountain League state qualifiers Kellogg and Bonners Ferry will lose much to graduation. North Star League co-champs Wallace and Clark Fork – which ended up facing off for fourth at state – also will lose much to graduation. So the door to state berths in the IML and NSL will be wide open.

Girls basketball

In a word, CdA achieved.

The Vikings were expected to win a state championship and they did so in convincing fashion, advancing to the title game for a third straight year.

I said early in the season that the Vikings wouldn’t be touched by any Idaho teams.

I underestimated the other Inland Empire League teams. Post Falls, Lake City and Lewiston challenged the Vikings.

Post Falls beat CdA twice, and the Trojans, too, were well- prepared for state. I’m not going to say the Trojans were the second-best team in the state. Vallivue earned that distinction by beating Post Falls in the semifinals, but the Trojans proved they belonged in the top three by capturing third.

How strong was the IEL this year? Lewiston and LC could have won a game at state had either qualified.

Back to CdA for a moment. The Vikings would have been unbeatable had senior Deanna Dotts not been lost for the season because of a knee injury.

Freshman post Carli Rosenthal played beyond her years, filling in capably for Dotts and giving the Vikings a much-needed presence in the low block.

Junior wing Kama Griffitts, capable of taking over games at any time, was a steady contributor in most statistical categories. The other starters, juniors Sadie Simon (guard) and Amy Warbrick (guard), made it impossible for opponents to key on any one player. And junior wing Whitney Heleker, who would have been a starter and big contributor for any other team, was the best sixth player off any bench in the league.

The glue in CdA’s mix, though, was senior point guard Ali Johnson. She was a starter as a freshman and had to sit out her sophomore season after knee surgery. She returned halfway through her junior year but struggled mightily.

Johnson had two telling games toward the end. She stepped up in CdA’s regional-opening win over Lewiston and she did it again in the Vikings’ state opener. It was a fitting end to a career that began with so much promise only to be derailed for two years. She proved that perseverance pays off.

CdA, by the way, will make it four straight years in the state title game next year. The Vikings will bring back another championship trophy.

“Intermountain League state qualifiers Kellogg and Priest River had disappointing showings at state.

Defending state champ Sugar-Salem knocked off Priest River in a state opener and the Spartans didn’t show up the next day in a loser-out game. Kellogg also fell in its state opener, but bounced back to win the next day despite playing without IML player of the year Amanda Seeling for the last quarter because of a knee injury.

Wrestling

Inland Empire League teams Lewiston, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls waged some entertaining battles, and it continued at state.

Lewiston (third) and Coeur d’Alene (fourth) earned state trophies.

The 5A and 4A IEL teams had seven individual state champs. They were: Casey George of Lewiston (103 pounds), a freshman whose only loss came at Tri-State; sophomore Braden Mowry of CdA (112), who, bounced back this year after going 25-0 last season before suffering a season-ending neck injury; senior Tim Pepperdine of Sandpoint (119), who won for a second consecutive year; junior Tracey Huffman of Lewiston (125), who won for a second straight year; junior Kyle McCrite of Lakeland (125), who won after losing to teammate Brandon Richardson in the 4A final at 119 last year; senior Ryan Booth of Post Falls (152), who became the first state champ in the Booth clan that has produced wrestlers for nearly three decades; and senior Jesse Nielsen of CdA (160), whose lone loss came at Tri-State.

“The Intermountain League had two state champs. They were junior Dayne Swisher of Bonners Ferry, who topped Justin Lopez of Priest River in an all-IML final at 140, and Preston O’Neill of Kellogg, who upset the No. 1 seed.