The Idaho Falls High School duo is four tennis matches away from a third straight 5A girls doubles state title. They also won the Capital Invite this year. They’ve been playing together for five years. Add in summer leagues, junior high and various offseason tournaments and their homes have enough gold-painted plastic to make a low-budget bank heist movie.

McGriff has a shadow box that she said is getting “kinda full.” Wright keeps everything in the family living room. The only time they haven’t played together since junior high was during their freshman year. They played mixed doubles. But Wright placed third at state that year. Another medal.

“I think they’ve got a really good chance (to repeat),” Idaho Falls coach Alan Leask said. “They have proven themselves to be champions.”

The last time they lost was in the semifinals of the Capital Invite last year.

To keep things that way, Wright and McGriff will likely have to beat Alex Goode and Allie Boyd … again. Wright and McGriff beat their Boise High School rivals 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the finals last year, in the early rounds of the Capital Invite last year and then again in the finals of the Capital Invite in April. As sophomores, they beat Boyd, who had a different playing partner at the time, in the second round at state. Idaho Falls is 3-0 against Boise when the four trade backhands. The next meeting would be for a state championship … again.

“(A rematch) could very well happen,” Leask said. “It probably will happen.”

“All the girls that make it are pretty tough players, but the girls we played in the finals last year will be there again,” McGriff said. “We’re looking out for them.”

After high school, Wright is headed to Brigham Young University-Idaho and McGriff is enrolled at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

Wright said she will not play tennis at BYU-I because she wants to try new things and concentrate on her studies. She plans to pursue a career as a nurse or ultrasound technician.

McGriff will play tennis at Pacific Lutheran.

“They offered me a good scholarship,” she said. “They have an up-and-coming team. It looked like a lot of fun and they have a lot of programs that I am interested in.”

McGriff said she is leaning toward engineering or health sciences as a major, but is undecided right now.

“They set a great example for the other players,” Leask said. “Their skill level, just the way they play the game. It’s hard to replace state champions two years in a row and possibly three. They definitely will be missed, but we do have a lot of good, capable girls coming back next year.”

Hopefully for the club, only one set of each will be necessary before winning games becomes commonplace.
Following a pair of games against Utah teams Box Elder (11-6 loss) and Herriman (19-11 loss) on Saturday at Taylorview Junior High School, the varsity team hasn’t won a game this season. With one week left on the schedule, the team has only a couple of chances left to prevent finishing with an 0-10 goose egg against its Northern Utah League opponents.

It could have been better. It should have been better. Idaho Falls lost each of its first three games by one goal. It’s lost three players to injuries. It’s been close, but Idaho Falls lacrosse is neither a horseshoe nor a hand grenade. It is an up-and-coming team comprised of four high schools worth of raw talent.

The team pulls players from Shelley, Bonneville, Hillcrest and Idaho Falls high schools. The kids compete against each other in other sports, but coach John Kramer said you would never know it by the way they have come together as a team.

“They are improving week by week,” Kramer said

The athleticism of Idaho Falls is on display with every sprint down the field and rifled shot from 20 yards out. What’s lacking is the experience and years of accumulated spring practices, summer camps, fall pick-up games and winter workouts.

The JV team has eight guys who never played before this season.

“Our JV has a lot of kids who are improving,” Kramer said. “They’re looking better.”

It is no coincidence that as the teams get younger, where athleticism matters more and experience matters less, the playing field for Idaho Falls gets leveled and may start sloping downhill soon.

“Our youth program is a bright spot, a lot of talent,” Kramer said.

A fifth- and sixth-grade team was started this season to go along with junior high and high school clubs.

This summer, most likely at the end of June or July, Kramer said there will be a three- or four-day summer camp for the next generation. Former players back from college are expected to help run the camp. Kramer said he plans to keep the cost low so as many young players as possible can participate.

That puts a big checkmark next to the summer camps. The other three seasons will take care of themselves. All Idaho Falls needs is time.

Miley shot a 71 at Sage Lakes Golf Course on Thursday, beating Will Higham of Shelley and Rok Holmes of Minico, who each shot 74.

“I was putting well,” Miley said. “I only had 25 putts, but a lot of that was because I was missing the greens and chipping it close.”

Twin Falls also won the team competition with a total score of 309. Highland was second with 313 and Shelley took third at 314.

“It hasn’t been one of our better tournaments,” Twin Falls coach Matt Harr said. “Usually we have everybody in the 70s, and today we had three guys in the 80s. We had some guys struggle today. The course played pretty hard. It was kind of chilly early with the wind. I think we have some frustrated players, but it is nice to shoot a 309 and while we struggled a little.”

Miley remembered having three birdies and four bogeys, but after the more than five-hour round, he couldn’t remember for the life of him where he did what.

He bogeyed one and birdied nine, of that he was certain. He birdied 15, according to a teammate, but drew a blank on the rest of the round. Still, he’s now won half of his events this year and has dropped his scoring average by three strokes compared to last year.

“I’ve been playing pretty well this season,” Miley said. “I’ve had four or five rounds under par. But in these conditions, you really can’t complain about 1-over par.”

“I think he has matured mentally,” Harr said. “He’s always had the physical parts of the game down. He doesn’t get as upset with himself if he gets a bogey or has a bad hole. It’s not uncharacteristic now to see a birdie after a bogey where last year it was a bogey after a bogey. It’s good to see the kids grow up and become young men.”

Justin Thomas of Idaho Falls, Keanu Zaugg of Madison and Tristan Coles of Ririe each shot 75 to round out the top five.

BOYS FALLS CLASSIC

At Sage Lakes Golf Course
Par 70

Team scores: 1, Twin Falls 309; 2, Highland 313; 3, Shelley 314; 4, Madison 322; 5, Century 333; 5, Hillcrest Black 333; 7, Hillcrest Red 335; t-8, Idaho Falls Black 337; t-8, Rigby 337; 10, Bonneville Green 339; 11, Skyline Blue 341; 12, Idaho Falls Orange 346; 13, Minico 351; 14, Preston 355; 15, Blackfoot 362; 16, Pocatello 368; 17, Snake River, 369; 18, North/South Fremont 380; 19, Salmon 382; 20, Burley 386; 21, Ririe 405; 22, Skyline White 410; 23, Sugar-Salem 434; 24, Bonneville Yellow INC.

Top 10 individuals: 1, Kyle Miley, Twin Falls, 71; 2, Will Higham, Shelley, 74; 3, Rok Holmes, Minico, 74; t-4, Justin Thomas, Idaho Falls, 75; t-4, Keanu Zaugg, Madison, 75; t-4, Tristan Coles, Ririe, 75; t-4, Derek Thompson, Twin Falls, 75; t-8, Keifer Higham, Shelley, 76; t-8, Chess Carbol, Highland, 76; t-8, Wyatt Holt, Century, 76.

Team resultsBLACKFOOT (362) – Jaxson Archibald 86, Chris Despain 85, Kaden Loveland 92, K.C. Franson 99, Aaron Carter 116.
BONNEVILLE GREEN (339) – Tanner Morrow 79, Tyler Longhurst 85, Tyler Holuber 88, Chase Saxton 87, Carsen Nesser 99.
BONNEVILLE YELLOW (INC) – Dallin Ragain 84, Mason Whitehead 101, Tyler Pickering 140.
BURLEY (386) – Jordan Oman 95, Austin Sorensen 95, Trey Whitaker 96, Kealyb Draper 100, Tommy Cantu 108.
CENTURY (333) – Ryan Mooney 88, Wyatt Holt 76, Ian Carlson 83, Jackson Shaver 86, Jake Cutler 89.
HIGHLAND (313) – Chess Carbol 76, Carl Stroschein 78, Aaron Thompson 80, Cameron Taylor 79, Landon Carbol 94.
HILLCREST BLACK (333) – Caden Cook 81, Bentley Sayer 87, Spencer Bishop 81, Scott Baldwin 84, Jake Hally 91.
HILLCREST RED (335) – Logan Murri 82, Carson Biddulph 86, Daken Buck 88, Tanner Austin 87, Jacob Hebdon 80.
IDAHO FALLS BLACK (337) – Chase Johnson 81, Andrew Callin 84, Lucas Hahn 83, Alex French 89, Trevor Hott 94.
IDAHO FALLS ORANGE (346) – Justin Thomas 75, Kendall Morrison 85, Nate Burton 104, Bracken Quinton 84, Sam Sweetland 102.
MADISON (322) – Jesse Nessen 77, Brayden Brizzee 87, Austin Garn 83, Keanu Zaugg 75, Rook Laird 91.
MINICO (351) – Rok Holmes 74, Jake Johnson 84, Keenan Smith 91, Justin Egen 107, Shane Amen 102.
NORTH/SOUTH FREMONT (380) – Josh Allen 84, Ryan Reborio 116, Kaden Parker 111, Talon Welker 88, Dane Chatfield 97.
POCATELLO (368) – Ryan Bardsley 82, Aarron Kordforth 87, Zach Dahlquist 100, Robert Tucker 99, Robert Hendricks 121.
PRESTON (355) – Zach Peterson 78, Bracken Doney 82, Anthony Snapp 89, Cole Nash 106.
RIGBY (337) – Brock Pence 78, Justin Arave 87, Clayton Iglinski 90, Kolten Shroeder 82, Wade Briggs 97.
RIRIE (405) – Tristan Coles 75, Jesse Weekes 118, Danny Park 111, Cody Hulse 111, Brandon Anderson 108.
SALMON (382) – Jade Barney 90, Tucker Hamilton 102, Derek Smith 112, Tristan Kulhanek 92, Ryan Smith 98.
SHELLEY (314) – Will Higham 74, Keifer Higham 76, Tyler Fredrickson 78, Peyson Erikson 90, Zac Newman 86.
SKYLINE BLUE (341) – Austin Guza 79, Gabe George 87, Tristen Olson 85, Nick Williams 90, Sean Cline 98.
SKYLINE WHITE (410) – Quin Heyrend 99, Dustin Taylor 96, Evan Sharp 108, Bralen Bailey 107, Caleb Cook 112.
SNAKE RIVER (369) – Collin Keller 82, Mason Watt 85, Hayden Lee 88, Jacob Seamons 117, Kade Watt 114.
SUGAR-SALEM (434) – Trevor Weiszhaar 92, Kolton Bloom 114, Jordan Saunders 115, Braxton Martineu 113, Chandler Campbeell 123.
TWIN FALLS (309) – Kyle Miley 71, Alec Meyerhoeffer 83, Matthew Frank 84, Alec Perkins 80, Derek Thompson 75.

But the Tigers’ bats, those were on fire.

Idaho Falls came from behind in both of its games in a Saturday doubleheader against Century High School, sweeping Century 5-4 and 18-8.

“I think we did pretty well,” Idaho Falls coach Shelly Lehto said. “I think we started to hit the ball really well, which was a good thing to see.”

Century played small ball, utilizing bunts and smart base running to take a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning.

Idaho Falls’ Riley Rohweder earned a walk and took second on a passed ball in the bottom of the fifth. Hannah Mathews brought her home with a single to left field.

After Century failed to score in the top of the sixth, Ryann Camp started the Idaho Falls rally by getting beaned.

Dalys Davenport, Taylor Cottle, and Taylor Kenney all followed with singles and scored runs to give Idaho Falls a 5-4 lead at the end of six.

Bailey Mills pitched all seven innings and struck out nine for the win.

“We played good the first game,” Century coach Jay Ferguson said. “We hit pretty good at times and it was just bad timing them getting those three runs.”

In the nightcap, Century batted around in the first inning of the second game, scoring five runs off Cottle. Idaho Falls kept pace, scoring three of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Cottle and Mills, who was in center field, switched positions in the second inning.

The Tigers batted around themselves in the bottom of the second, scoring five runs to take an 8-6 lead. They stretched that to 13-8 by the fifth inning. Three walks, a hit by pitch, an error and a single later, and Camp crossed home plate for the fourth time in the game. This time though, it gave Idaho Falls a 10-run lead after five innings, ending the game.

Mills was 4 for 4 with three triples. Cottle was 3 for 4 with four RBIs.

“Bailey (Mills) came through hitting wise and she came through pitching wise,” Lehto said. Idaho Falls (5-6) hosts Rigby for a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Tautphaus Park.

IDAHO FALLS 5, CENTURY 4
Century 011 020 0 - 4 8 1
Idaho Falls 100 013 0 - 5 8 2
CENTURY – Leading hitters: Jennie Murillo 2-4 (3B, 2B, 2 R), Dani Blanchard 2-3 (3B), Camry Erickson 1-4 (2B). Pitchers: Jamie Miller (L) 7 IP, 8 H, 2 K, 2 BB.
IDAHO FALLS – Leading hitters: Ryann Camp 1-2, Mady Hillam 1-2 (BB), Taylor Cottle 1-3 (RBI), Bailey Mills 1-3 (2B). Pitchers: Mills (W) 7 IP, 8 H, 9 K, 4 BB.

IDAHO FALLS 18, CENTURY 8 (5 innings)
Century 510 20 - 8 8 3
Idaho Falls 352 35 - 18 13 5
CENTURY – Leading hitters: Camry Erickson 3-4 (2B), BreAnn Harris 2-2 (2B, 3B, 2 RBIs), Savannah Wells 1-2 (2 R), Jennie Murillo 1-3 (2 2Bs, 3RBIs). Pitchers: Kayla Yeates (L) 5 IP, 13 H, 3 K, 8 BB.
IDAHO FALLS – Leading hitters: Bailey Mills 4-4 (3 3Bs, 4 R, RBI), Ryann Camp 1-1 (4 R, 3 BB), Taylor Cottle 3-4 (4 RBIs), Jerica Sobieski 2-3 (3 R). Pitcher: Cottle 1 IP, 3 BB, 0 K; Mills (W) 4 IP, 4 K, 2 BB.