MARK NELKE
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order.
Recent Stories
THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Journey to a title in Bonners — with a brief stop in Cd’A
“The whole process has been completely amazing,” said Nathan Williams, now in his fourth season as the Badgers boys basketball coach. “And the parents … it’s an hour and a half to Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, when we’d play an AAU game, and an hour and a half back, and there were so many times there was 6, 8 inches of snow. And we’ve got a game at 8 a.m. They’d always schedule us at 8 a.m., coming from Bonners. So we’re waking up at 5 … it was crazy. But the commitment from the parents and the kids has been amazing.”
STATE 3A BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP: At last — Bonners Ferry captures first state boys basketball title
“It’s unbelievable,” said Badger senior Trey Bateman, Thomas’ cousin. “We fought; we’ve earned it, we’ve done everything we can as a basketball team. Mr. Williams (Nathan, the Bonners coach) has helped us so much throughout life and basketball. My brothers (Brady and Seth) won a state championship in baseball in 2018, and that was so huge for our community, and it showed. We are unbelievably grateful and blessed to have this state championship here.”
Timberlake girls win league and districts, off to state
After playing a couple of nail-biters earlier this week, the Timberlake Tigers looked like, well, the Timberlake Tigers on Thursday.
THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: More refs, larger crews, higher pay ... life is good for District 1 football officials
"The idea is not to get more flags on the ground, the idea is to not miss those calls that you can’t miss," District 1 football commissioner Roger Stewart said. "Just make sure it’s more balanced coverage.”
3A DISTRICT 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL: Tigers back on top — After hiccup last year, Timberlake wins eighth district title in nine years
Timberlake (20-2), No. 2 in the final MaxPreps regular season rankings, advances to state Feb. 16-18 at Skyview High in Nampa, and will open in the day’s first game at 11 a.m. PST vs. the No. 7 seed, which is to be determined.
Lady Badgers outlast Priest River, advance to District title game
Bonners Ferry 46, Priest River 33: The Badgers took the fight to the Spartans from the start, but nearly paid for it with foul trouble and 16 turnovers in the first half.