Prep winter sports kick into gear with changes
Angie Bjorklund has been traveling for visits to colleges throughout the country. Katelan Redmon traveled across town. And a couple of other top girls athletes have traveled from out of town to join the Greater Spokane League.
The four junior athletes are among those who began their seasons with the start of winter sports practices on Monday.
Boys and girls basketball players, wrestlers and gymnasts are all preparing for contests that will be played as early as Nov. 29.
That’s when Mead and Lewis and Clark boys travel to Coeur d’Alene for non-league games basketball games against the Vikings and Lake City Timberwolves.
Basketball goes full throttle Dec. 2. The first GSL wrestling matches are on Dec. 8, the night after gymnastics starts.
University’s Bjorklund is perhaps the most highly sought-after junior female basketball player in the country. Coaches from high-profile programs have already come to town in order to be seen.
“Without a doubt, by the time she’s done she’s going to write new records,” said Lewis and Clark coach Jim Redmon. “Angie went for 47 points on us one game this summer. But it’s hard to get mad at her because she’s a great person as well as a great basketball player.”
Bjorklund traveled to Connecticut, where she was the subject of an article on the Huskies’ Web site, Duke and Tennessee this fall.
Redmon has transferred from Mt. Spokane, where in two seasons she became the school’s second-leading all-time scorer, to LC to play for her uncle.
Nikki Nelson and Kami Clark, the respective scoring leaders for State second-place 2A and B finishers – Chewelah and Almira/Coulee-Hartline – are with Mead.
Both the Tigers, third in state last year, and the Titans, who finished sixth, have aspirations of returning. Jim Redmon’s assumption is that, like last year, U-Hi and LC will be at the top with others fighting for position behind them.
Mead has upped the ante.
“We’ve got to keep carrying the torch,” said coach Regan Freuen, ticking off Mead’s fall successes – third straight state volleyball title and second place in boys cross country along with football success.
Bjorklund’s talent speaks for itself. With the 6-foot Redmon joining 6-2 Gonzaga University recruit Heather Bowman, LC could play a different style of game.
“Our tendency has been to pressure and run,” Redmon said. “We’re going to be bigger. Will that change us from last year? I assume so because of Katelan.”
Monday’s winter sports start signaled the return of Don Van Lierop as Ferris’ boys coach after a one year hiatus and the beginning of the Jeff Norton era at LC.
Loren Carlon is West Valley’s fourth girls coach in as many years and Hal Sautter takes over the Cheney girls program.
“It’s nice to be back,” said Van Lierop. “I missed it, I really did.”
Van Lierop said that based upon what he saw during the summer, the GSL is continuing on an upswing since failing to qualify a 4A team to state two years ago.
“Teams who graduated quite a few players seem to have restocked quickly, that’s what I noticed,” he said.
WV’s boys return the nucleus of a team that finished fourth in State 3A boys basketball last year. Ferris and Gonzaga Prep were state qualifiers last year and will try to reprise. Three or four other teams, said Van Lierop, can be dangerous.
Defending State 4A wrestling champion U-Hi and 3A runner-up East Valley set about the task of duplicating their divisional championship efforts with several others, including Central Valley, standing in the way.
The major drawback is that regional allotments to state have been reduced to three teams for basketball and three individuals per weight in wrestling.
Mead and Shadle Park, third and fifth in state gymnastics, and a number of individuals, including U-Hi’s Kayla McGahey, who placed seventh all-around and fourth on uneven bars, are back for another try.