THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Post Falls still making its mark on the mat -- in high school and beyond

No, that wasn’t a typo.

Post Falls has quite the wrestling program this year.

But, if you’ve been following along with the Trojans in the last few years, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

IN CASE you missed it last spring, the Trojans were represented in the NCAA Championships by Nebraska's Ridge Lovett, who was runner-up at 149 pounds as a sophomore.

Lovett opted to redshirt this year at Nebraska, according to an article by FloWrestling.com and Post Falls coach Pete Reardon.

“I wasn’t really surprised,” Reardon said. “I could have seen it going either way. It was a chance for him to grow a little bit and continue to get better. He hadn’t taken his redshirt year yet, so he could get a little bit of size and grow into that 149 (pound) class and get better at wrestling.”

Then again, with sophomores Ryan Graves and Ethan Miller and freshman Lane Reardon competing at North Idaho College, there will be no absence of Trojans at the next level.

Redshirt junior Brayden Huber and redshirt freshman Roddy Romero are at Division II University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.

“It’s an honor to see all those kids move on,” Pete Reardon said. “You see all the stuff in the news or Facebook about Brayden and Roddy doing stuff, and those guys at NIC, and it just gives you a sense of pride to have kids all around the country doing stuff and representing Post Falls and the community. It’s really cool to see.”

Since 2015, Post Falls has won five state 5A team titles and was third in 2021 and 2022.

The Post Falls connection has already paid off at NIC, where interim coach Derrick Booth — a 2010 graduate of Post Falls — invited the Trojans to hold a dual at NIC's Christianson Gymnasium next Thursday, the night before the annual Tri-State Invitational.

“We were touching base with Derrick really,” Reardon said. “I told him we’d love to come and try to dual a team there if we could and try to highlight the program there at NIC. We kicked around a few teams, but none of them worked out.”

Until Orting (Wash.) stepped up.

“Jody Coleman (Orting coach), he’s always game,” Reardon said. “I sent him a text, and two seconds later, he said yes, and asked me when and we made it happen. It should be fun.”

And next week, when the seeds come out for Tri-State, expect a handful of Trojan wrestlers to be in the mix, as well as when the team scores come in next Saturday night.

“It’s really hard to gauge where we fit,” said Reardon, whose Trojans won Tri-State in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019, and were fifth last year. “There’s a lot of tradition there and it’s all the programs and folks you know and lock horns with all year. We’re going to be excited to compete there, no matter what. But as far as where we finish, who knows. It’s early in the season, so we just want to fight and see where we’re at this early in the season.”

BACK TO Thursday’s dual at Lake City for a moment.

Sure, the score — a 76-7 Post Falls win over the Timberwolves — was a little lopsided.

In the lineup that night, Post Falls had 11 returning state placers, compared to two for Lake City.

Sometimes, things like that happen.

But it wasn’t for a lack of effort by the Lake City kids.

Pretty far from that.

For a lot of those in the starting lineup, it was their first real taste of the varsity spotlight.

Lake City started two freshmen and three sophomores and failed to field wrestlers at both 98 and 106 pounds.

Meanwhile, Post Falls is loaded and ready to compete with the best of the best right now.

With experience in the coming weeks and months, those freshmen and sophomores will continue to get better and better.

And who knows, maybe close that gap just a little bit.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.