April 2014 – Page 30 – North Platte Post Archive

Wahlin Commits To St. Cloud State

Posted on April 18, 2014

KEARNEY, Neb. – Storm affiliate player Jake Wahlin has announced his commitment to play college hockey at St. Cloud State in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Wahlin, who played in the Storm’s final 10 games last season, is expected to be with Tri-City full-time during the 2014-15 campaign.

The forward said he is excited to be able to play at the collegiate level close to home.

“I wanted to play closer to home and the campus is like an hour and 15 minutes from my house which is perfect,” Wahlin said. “My family will be able to see me play and I have a lot of friends that go to St. Cloud.”

While playing for White Bear Lake High School in Minnesota last season, Wahlin put up 70 points in 25 regular season games.

St. Cloud State plays in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, an eight-team league which began play last season. The Huskies finished at the top of the standings in 2013-14, finishing with a conference record of 15-6-3 along with an overall record of 22-11-5.

“When I met coach [Bob] Motzko at St. Cloud and we had a long visit,” Wahlin said. He showed me around campus, the rink, and offered me the scholarship. I felt it was an offer I couldn’t pass up.”

Wahlin also said the school has renovated their facilities, which also made a difference when he was making his decision.

“I definitely like how they updated the dorms and the campus,” Wahlin said. “I remember going out there when I was with the advanced 15s and it was definitely kind of an older campus but they’ve done a lot of things to improve it.”

As an affiliate in the USHL, the St. Paul, Minn. native had two goals and an assist in 10 games, while getting acclimated to the league and building chemistry with some of the team’s veterans.

Acquired in a trade with Sioux City in January, Storm head coach Jim Hulton is hoping Wahlin will be an integral part of the team’s future.

Wahlin is planning on attending Kearney High School for his senior year in the fall and is excited to be back on the roster full-time.

“I think what excites me the most is that I’ve gotten the chance to know the other guys on the team,” Wahlin said. “We were pretty young but I think next year we’ll have a really strong team. It was a great group of guys that took me in and accepted me as well as the coaching staff and the fans in the community.”

The 17-year-old said it was really important to include his family in the process of choosing a school.

“I would definitely say I talked to my parents a lot,” Wahlin said. “We’d have family dinners to discuss what we felt was going to be the best fit for me. I talked to my brother, family members, and some of my old coaches from the past.”

Tri-City is preparing for the two annual USHL Entry Drafts, which will take place May 5-6. The Storm will have the No. 3 overall pick in both drafts.

The Phase I Draft will include eligible players with a 1998 birth year and the Phase II Draft will include multiple birth years from 1994-1997.

Chase County Dominates Sutherland Invitational

Posted on April 18, 2014

Sutherland High School hosted the Sutherland Invitational track and field meet on Thursday and the Chase County Longhorns were dominant in both the boys and girls divisions.

The Chase County girls won by 110 points over second place North Platte St. Patrick’s. The Lady Longhorns from Imperial scored 176.5 points compared to St. Pat’s 66.5. The Sutherland Lady Sailors finished in third with 64 points. Three other area schools competed in the meet, Brady placed fourth, Hershey took seventh and Wallace finished eighth out of the 11 teams.

Chase County also won the boys meet, though not by nearly as much. The Longhorns scored 115 points, which is 22.5 more than St. Patrick’s 92.5. Paxton rounded out the top three with 87 points. Brady came in fifth, Wallace took sixth, Hershey finished seventh and the host school Sutherland placed 10th out of the 11 teams.

Athletes from the local schools that won their events include Sutherland’s Jalyne Schuster in the 100 meter dash, Shaylin McClellen from Brady in the 200 meter dash and long jump, St. Pat’s won the 4×800 meter relay with Ellie Buhrman, Riley Nitsch, Peyton Irish and Anna O’Malley. Brady’s Josie Palmer won the high jump, Kaley Stokey of Sutherland won the pole vault, and Erin Nozicka from St. Pat’s won the triple jump.

From the boys events Eric Roe from Brady won the 110 meter hurdles, Wallace won the 4×800 meter relay with Andrew Gardner, Landon Swedberg, Dillon Kopp and Hayden Woodcox. Drew McClellen won the pole vault for St. Pat’s and also from the Irish, Alex Harms won the discus.

Bulldogs Soccer Splits with Columbus

Posted on April 18, 2014

The North Platte Bulldogs soccer teams traveled to Columbus on Thursday, the girls won and boys lost.

The North Platte Lady Bulldogs (8-2) won a hard fought road battle over the Discoverers 2-0. The match was scoreless at halftime before North Platte’s Madalynn Doughty scored two goals in the second half to lead the Lady Dogs to the win. Taylor Banark assisted on both of Doughty’s goals and Abby Stark earned the shutout in the net with eight saves.

The North Platte Bulldogs (2-8) boys soccer team lost their eighth straight match with a 3-1 loss to Columbus on Thursday. Columbus led 2-0 at halftime before the Dogs and Discoverers each scored one goal in the second half. Brady Mason scored North Platte’s only goal and Nick Wilkinson assisted on the play. Dakota Guenin had eight saves as the keeper.

The North Platte Bulldogs boys and girls teams will return to the pitch on Tuesday at home against Kearney.

NP Police Nab Two Fugitives with One Traffic Stop

Posted on April 18, 2014

Two North Platte woman have been jailed on warrants following a traffic stop.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, an officer on patrol witnessed a silver Pontiac Grand Prix without license plates and initiated a traffic stop near 2nd Street and Cottonwood Avenue.

The officer did observe that the vehicle had in-transit tags, but they were expired.

Contact was made with the driver, 41-year-old Latonya Alexander, aka Tyan, aka Campbell.

The officer discovered that Tyan had an active Lincoln County warrant for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Brown said the officer also suspected that Tyan may be under the influence of alcohol and conducted a DUI investigation, which determined that she was not intoxicated.

A Lincoln County Deputy and K9 were then summoned to the scene and conducted a sniff search of the vehicle. The K9 indicated that the odor of narcotics was present in the vehicle.

A subsequent search revealed drug paraphernalia commonly used to smoke marijuana and trace amounts of marijuana.

Tyan was jailed on the warrant and cited for no proof of ownership, expired in-transits, no valid registration, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Brown said officers also had probable cause to arrest a passenger in Tyan’s car, 27-year-old Trisha Willimas, for theft.

Brown said the probable cause stemmed from a theft complaint filed on April 15, by the staff of Premier Rental Purchase, 105 North Jeffers. Staff at Premier Rental alleged that Williams rented approximately $2,300 worth of electronics, then attempted to pawn them.

After an employee contacted Williams to return the items, she failed to do so and law enforcement was contacted.

Williams was also jailed on a charge of felony theft by deception.

NCAA Could Force Hardship Transfers to Sit 1 Year

Posted on April 18, 2014

Student-athletes who seek transfers due to “difficult life circumstances” might have to sit out a season but gain an extra year of eligibility starting in 2015-16.

The NCAA Division I Leadership Council has recommended the elimination of immediate eligibility for players approved for hardship waivers. The NCAA says the proposed change would give athletes a year to focus on academics and the circumstance that led them to seek such a transfer in the first place before they can play.

The proposal is also intended to reduce concerns about waiver process abuse and claims of inconsistent decision making. The NCAA approved 127 of 236 such waivers from July 2012-June 2013.

The NCAA’s Board of Directors will rule on the proposal on April 24.

Driver Dies in Northern Nebraska Collision

Posted on April 18, 2014April 18, 2014

(AP) — A driver has died, burned beyond recognition, after his vehicle rammed into a semitrailer in northern Nebraska.

The collision occurred about 10 a.m. Wednesday around six miles west of O’Neill. Holt County Attorney Thomas Herzog says the man’s westbound vehicle crossed the center line of U.S. Highway 20 and struck the eastbound big rig.

The subsequent fire also melted the vehicle’s identification numbers.

Herzog says the semitrailer driver was hospitalized.

The accident is being investigated.

Man on Omaha Billboard Causes Brief Scare

Posted on April 18, 2014April 18, 2014

(AP) — A man has been arrested after climbing a billboard in southern Omaha with what looked like a rifle.

A security officer spotted the man walking through a parking lot around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The officer called police as the man scaled a couple of fences before ascending the billboard.

Officers soon arrived, blocked off the street and began talking to the man. He soon descended and was taken into custody without incident.

He was carrying an airsoft model that resembled an AR-15 assault-style weapon.

Neb. Jobless Rate Inches Up to 3.7 Percent

Posted on April 18, 2014

(AP) — A newly released report says Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate inched up a tenth of a point to hit 3.7 percent in March, compared with 3.6 percent in February.

The rate is two-tenths of a point under the 3.9 percent the state posted in March 2013. The state Department of Labor released the employment data on Friday.

The new Nebraska figure remained well below the national unemployment rate of 6.7 percent in March.

Wallenda Scouts Chicago Sites for Tightrope Walk

Posted on April 18, 2014

(AP) — Daredevil Nik Wallenda is in Chicago scouting possible locations for a tightrope walk between two Windy City skyscrapers in the fall.

The high-wire walker said that he first would check out Willis Tower, which was formerly known as the Sears Tower and was the nation’s tallest building.

Wallenda says he hasn’t ruled out Willis Tower, but that it would be problematic because there isn’t a nearby building tall enough to connect his rig to. He says, though, that he shouldn’t have trouble selecting a site.

Wallenda has walked across the Niagara Falls and Grand Canyon in the past two years. He’s part of a family of acrobats that has been thrilling audiences for decades as The Flying Wallendas.

Minatare, Gering OK Dispatch Center Agreement

Posted on April 18, 2014

(AP) — The Minatare Village Board and the Gering City Council have accepted an agreement regarding the Scotts Bluff County Communications Center.

Their decisions earlier this week means they’ll join the six other county communities in funding upgrades at the dispatch center.

Gering and Minatare had gone to court in December to ensure the county wouldn’t stop providing them with emergency dispatch services as they squabbled with the county over some points in the agreement. The two communities soon dropped their lawsuit and resumed talks.