Amazingly, Lawrence Gets Better

Believe it or not? Jared Lawrence got better? Believe it.

Jared Lawrence got beat? Not.

The Sandpoint High School wrestling phenom won his match last weekend at the 24th-annual Dapper Dan Classic at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

Lawrence destroyed Corey Ace 18-2 to help the U.S. team defeat the Pennsylvania all-stars, 24-19. Ace was 131-3 in high school, 39-0 this season. Lawrence, a four-time Idaho state champion, was 133-0 and 39-0.

“I was told before the match that I’d have my hands full,” Lawrence said. “I wrestled the best match I’ve ever wrestled in my life.”

Lawrence, a 4.0 student who will attend University of Minnesota next year, wrestles at the ninth-annual national high school championships at Duquesne later this month.

Panhandling

Post Falls native Darin Blood had a rough spring training with the San Francisco Giants, giving up 10 runs (five earned) in five innings. Seven walks and a hit batsman appeared to be Blood’s undoing.

He was, however, perfect with the bat, going 1 for 1. Not surprising, considering Blood whacked four homers against Coeur d’Alene in an American Legion tournament game in 1990.

Blood probably will be assigned to Double-A Shreveport or Triple-A Fresno. He was 8-10 with a 4.33 ERA last year in 27 starts at Shreveport.

The salary ex-University of Idaho athletic director Oval Jaynes will receive at Tennessee-Chattanooga has been accurately reported at $95,000 per year. That doesn’t include standard perks - car, country club membership, etc. Nor does it include the thousands Jaynes figures to make on radio shows. They take sports mighty serious down South.

Lake City High multi-sport standout Lindsay Herbert didn’t turn out for softball. Instead, she will focus on her conditioning program in preparation for playing hoops at University of Utah next year.

It’s too bad in a way because Herbert could have done something I cannot recall being accomplished in this area - become league MVP in three sports in one school year. She was Inland Empire League volleyball MVP and Border League basketball MVP this season. She was all-IEL in softball a year ago.

Idaho suffered its most devastating staff losses in the nine years I’ve covered the school with the departure of women’s basketball coach Julie Holt and her husband, Nick, an assistant football coach, for Louisville. The two were recruiting marvels and popular in the athletic department and community. Beyond that, both can coach.

However, their losses might be recouped. Nick has the resume to be Idaho’s head coach someday.

Idaho State has hired Doug Oliver, an assistant at Stanford, as its new men’s basketball coach.

Oliver, you may recall, was a finalist for the Idaho job that went to Dave Farrar. Oliver complained that his interview at UI was a sham. “I was there just to appease the process,” he said. Steve Barnes, a former assistant at UI under Larry Eustachy, also interviewed at ISU.

Grad school

Former North Idaho College Cardinal Shawn Myrick assisted on D’Juan Baker’s game-winning field goal in University of Cincinnati’s 65-62 NCAA Tournament win over Northern Arizona last Thursday.

Myrick played only 3 minutes in the Bearcats’ last-second loss to West Virginia on Saturday. Michael Horton played point guard and committed eight turnovers.

Myrick finished the season averaging 4.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

Front row

The runs-aplenty, runs-aplenty-allowed NIC baseball team entertains Olympic Sunday at noon and Monday at 1, and Walla Walla Tuesday at 1.

These will be NIC’s final tuneups before beginning Region 18 play by visiting Treasure Valley the following weekend.

Rumor de jour

The State A-1 boys and girls basketball tournaments would expand from 8 to 12 teams, under a proposal that will be heard at the Idaho High School Activities Association’s April meeting.

Don Neves, A.D. at Highland High in Pocatello, proposed the expansion to allow more representation because the number of A-1 schools will increase from 27 to 32 next year.

, DataTimes