Fund-raisers hope to give the Vikings a new gym floor

A fund-raising effort has been launched to replace the 35-year-old gym floor at Coeur d’Alene High School’s Elmer Jordan Court.

“It’s outlived its life,” said Rusty Reyes, a Coeur d’Alene booster who is spearheading the renovation project. “The floor sits on concrete and there’s no cushion, so it fatigues knees and joints.”

The cost to replace the floor is $120,000, Reyes said. The new floor would be similar to the one installed at Gonzaga University’s McCarthey Athletic Center, Reyes said.

“Historically, it’s been one of the less forgiving floors in the area,” CdA athletic director Larry Schwenke said. “The underlayment is not up to today’s standards. It would be outstanding to have it upgraded.”

Reyes’ goal is to raise the money by mid-July so the new floor, which would require seven weeks to install, would be in place when school starts.

“This is time sensitive,” Reyes said. “If we wait another year, what is now $120,000 will be $145,000.”

People wishing to make a donation can make checks payable to: Coeur d’Alene High School Jordan Court Renovation Fund. The checks can be mailed to the school (5530 N. 4th St.).

For more information, Reyes can be contacted by phone at 704-2703 or e-mail at rreyes@c21beutler.com.

Shriners games

Players and coaches have been selected for the sixth annual Calam Shrine North/South All-Star Football Classic, which will be held July 16 at the University of Idaho’s Kibbie Dome.

For a third straight year, the All-Star Classic features two games – 11-man and 8-man contests. The games will pit the 2005 graduates from District I (the five northernmost counties) and District II (schools from Potlatch to Riggins, plus Washington schools Clarkston and Asotin). The 8-man game will begin at 2 p.m., followed by the 11-man game.

Proceeds from the games will help the more than 500,000 orthopedic, burn and spinal rehabilitation patients cared for by the Shriners Hospitals for Children throughout North America.

Players selected to the 11-man North team are: Brandon Landrum of Kellogg; Joey Stark and Jeremy Patterson of Priest River; Travis Stolley, Ken Koehler and Matt Bennett of Bonners Ferry; Kody Winter, Matt Hohensee, Joe Wolfe, Jake Wolfe and Gabe Le of Coeur d’Alene; Ren Jones of Timberlake; Travis Harmon of Lake City; Kam Kiefer of Lakeland; Ben Felix, Ryne Eberlin, D.J. Moore and Jed Overracker of St. Maries; Blake Mahler, Dan Parrish, Chad Denny, Eric DeMers, Brian Resso and Sean Lissy of Sandpoint. The head coach is John Yegge of St. Maries.

Players selected to the 8-man North team are: Sean Angle, Jake Strange and Paul Norris of Wallace; Ben Wheeler, Clayton Hewitt, Mike Johnson, Mario Spina and Lance Siple of Clark Fork; Tony Kraack and Adam White of Kootenai; Mike Sifford, Andrew Sonder, Tim Wolfe and Keith Whipple of Lakeside; Josh Quincy, Trevor Campbell, Donald Cansino and Brad Shaw of Post Falls Christian. The head coach is Frank Hammersley of Clark Fork.

All-league teams

Sophomore pitcher Jenna DeLong of Coeur d’Alene has been named the Inland Empire League’s most valuable player in softball in a vote of the league’s coaches.

First-year coach Laura Tolzmann of Lake City was named coach of the year. Junior Erika Willy of Post Falls was named newcomer of the year.

The following players were named to the first team: pitcher – Kellee Jost of LC; catcher – Mallory Twidt of Lakeland; infielders – Lindsey Stark of CdA, Jenny McMillan of Moscow, Justine Winn of Post Falls and Dani Ghramm of LC; outfielders – Sara Helbling of Moscow, Heather Simpson of Lakeland, Jackie Lenz of CdA, Julie Andrews of Lewiston and Heather Glaze of Post Falls.

The following players were named to the second team: pitcher – Angela Pegram of Lewiston; catcher – Alysha Krier of LC; infielders – Kelli Bridges of LC, Hallie Keener of Lewiston and Sammie Ritzheimer of CdA; outfielders – Brianna Robson of CdA, Kylie Chandler of CdA, Amy Seale of Lewiston and Kathleen Capone of LC.

•Post Falls senior Cody Brubaker of Post Falls has been named the IEL’s most valuable player in baseball in a vote of the league’s coaches.

Lewiston coach Tom Grunenfelder was named coach of the year. Moscow sophomore Paul Wimer was named newcomer of the year.

The following players were named to the first team: pitchers – Nick Masters of Lewiston, Kaleb Maxwell of Moscow, Andy Seaman of Coeur d’Alene and Glenn Poelstra of Sandpoint; infielders – Chris Butler of Lewiston, Tom Barlow of Lake City, Nic Duman of CdA and K.C. McDonald of LC; catcher – Travis Georgius of CdA; utility – Brady Capaul of LC; designated hitter – Cody Hill of Lewiston; outfielders – Kevin Maurer of Lewiston, Jeremy Roth of Lakeland, Cory Kreighbaum of LC and Dan Hamilton of Post Falls.

The following players were named to the second team: pitchers – Beck Roan of LC, Bryant Sampson of CdA, Mike Shaffer of Post Falls and Rob Roth of Lewiston; infielders – Mike Estrada of CdA, Brad Herrenbruck of Moscow, Ricky Klontz of Sandpoint and Brandon Parker of Post Falls; catcher – Travis Harmon of LC; utility – Ryan Stewart of Lakeland; DH – Ross Steele of Moscow; outfielders – Max Lyons of CdA, Bobby Kuber of Post Falls, Tyler Squires of Lewiston and Jeff Harris of LC.