Area basketball players selected for Jr. All-Stars
Twelve area basketball players and two alternates were selected to play on the 2004 Bison/NBDA Junior All-Stars squad.
The players were selected from a recent tryout that drew more than 40 participants.
The coach of the team is Steve Nicholson, the co-head boys coach at McCook High School.
All of the players except one -- McCook St. Patric's eighth grader Cory Gaston -- were freshmen in high school during the 2003-04 season.
Gaston and Wauneta-Palisade's Tyler Riener are alternates.
Four McCook players made the team -- Brett Burton, Josh Cherry, Brock Hubert and John Swanhorst.
Wauneta-Palisade also placed four players on the squad -- Andrew Isom, Marc Klima, Russell Ridlen and Trevor Ridlen.
Rounding out the squad are Arapahoe's Adam Borden, Southwest's Landon Ruggles, Lakeside Central's John Thompson and Eustis-Farnam's Ryan Wetovick.
The team is preparing for a Memorial Day Weekend tournament at Lincoln.
"This is a pretty athletic group of players that made it through the selection process," Nicholson said.
"Hopefully, they will work hard to prepare themselves to compete against the 27 other All-Star Teams from around the state and do a great job of representing their respective communities here in Southwest Nebraska.
"I'd like to thank the 40-plus players that started the selection process, their process and the coaches that assisted with the evaluations. Without the players, parents and other coaches, putting this team together would be impossible to accomplish."