West Roster

Jason Davis, Hershey
Baylor Hellmuth, Hershey
Brendan Brehmer, Alliance
Drew Brenner, Leyton
Marquis Burwell, Chadron
Cade Cappel, McCook
Isaac DeLosSantos, Scottsbluff
Noah Eklund, Valentine
Jerrod Fedorchick, Bridgeport
Bryson Fisher, Chase County
Jared Fulton, Valentine
Genaro Gurrola, Scottsbluff
Logan Hammond, Ogallala
Abe Hernandez, Mitchell
Eric Langan, McCook
Miles Langer, Perkins County
Max Lindgren, Ogallala
Alex Linneman, Sidney
Jacey Nutter, Sandhills-Thedford
Kobe Paez, Scottsbluff
Denton Payne, Hemingford
Cade Pokorny, Sandhills-Thedford
Colby Rezac, McCook
Duncan Rogers, McCook
Gage Rolls, Alliance
Brendin Sayaloune, Chadron
Steven Shields, Valentine
Derek Sis, Perkins County
Dakota Wallin, Chase County
Bryan Wilson, Alliance
James Wood, Hemingford
Mason Zorn, Garden County

Head Coach: Glen Lipska, Leyton
Asst Coaches: Blake Beebout, Valentine; Cody Gamble, Leyton; Jamie Slingsby, Chadron

East Roster

Aaron Allison, North Platte St. Pat’s
Christopher Borden, North Platte St. Pat’s
Lane Knisley, North Platte St. Pat’s
Cade DiGiovanni, North Platte HS
Jayden Songster, North Platte HS
Dawson Graham, Gothenburg
Patrick Peterson, Gothenburg
Noah Royce, Gothenburg
Matthew Neiman, Brady
Garett Schledewitz, Maxwell
Hunter Aul, South Loup
Tyler Buck, Holdrege
Ezekiel Derr, Cozad
Brady Dawson, Southern Valley
Michael Gibbens, Twin Loup
Klint Gill, Cozad
Cameron Griffis, Cozad
Alex Helms, Holdrege
Brice Hodson, Medicine Valley
Tristan Kociembu, Broken Bow
Luis Lam, Lexington
Lucas Lans, Southern Valley
Andrew Miller, Broken Bow
Lance Moore, Mullen
Reece Peden, Cozad
Creighton Peterson, Bertrand
Brady Rohde, Ansley/Litchfield
Paul Sandoz, Twin Loup
Hunter Smith, Broken Bow
Josh Thompson, Overton
Samuel Vinton, Mullen
Ben Wetovick, Cozad

Head Coach: Ryan Jones, Maxwell
Asst Coaches: Jason Hale, Holdrege; Paul Heusinkvelt, Overton; Mike Kozeal, Twin Loup

North Platte – Three North Platte Community College Knights sophomore basketball players, Diontae Champion, Mike Amius, and Jordan Mills have signed letters of intent to play at four year colleges in the 2017-18 season.

Champion, a 6’ 6” small forward from Arlington, Texas, signed with the University of New Orleans.

Champion led the Knights in scoring the past two seasons, averaging 15.2 points per game his freshman and 14.8 ppg his sophomore season. During his freshman season he was selected to the All-Region IX Tournament team. He averaged 26.5 ppg in two games in the tournament. After his sophomore season, Champion was named to the All-Region IX team and was the Most Valuable Player of the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference.

Champion said, “I’ve been away from home, so it is closer to home, between my Mississippi family and my Texas family, so they can see me play and come to more games.”

In his two years at North Platte, Champion had 137 assists, 368 rebounds and 121 steals.

“Diontae was probably considered our best player the past couple of years. He transformed himself from an excellent athlete who played basketball to a guy that worked hard on his basketball skills.” Knights Head Coach Kevin O’Connor said, “Because of injuries and the death of Sampson Charles, we had to play Diontae at the power forward position. Once he gets to New Orleans, and able to play his natural wing position, they are going to see a very good player there with a good program.”

The University of New Orleans Privateers is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I program and is a member of the Southland Conference. This past season the Privateers were 20-12 overall and 13-5 in the conference. The Privateers received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for winning the Southland Conference Tournament, losing in the play-in game to Mount St. Marys.

Amius, a 6’ 7” post player from Lake Worth Fla., played two seasons for the Knights signed to play for the Western Carolina University Catamounts.

Amius led the Knights in rebounding with six rebounds per game and blocked shots at 1.1 blocks per game. Amius averaged 11.8 points per game. He had a 70.1 percent field goal percentage, which was sixth in the nation among National Junior College Athletic Association Division I players. His field goal percentage of 68.0 percent for his two-year career with the Knights broke the career field goal percentage mark set by Bill Kuhl from 1988-1990.

Amius said, “I liked the opportunity they presented compared to a lot of the other teams. They made me feel like I was home and the university is really close to my close relatives.”

The Catamounts are a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division One program and are a member of the Southern conference. They finished the 2016-2017 season with a 9-23 overall record and 4-14 in the conference.

O’Connor said, “I’m real pleased for the opportunity Western Carolina is giving Mike. Mike was raw in terms of skill and talent but very tremendous athletic ability, very good character. He is a smart basketball player and a smart student. I think Mike’s best basketball is going to be ahead of him, he is going to improve in leaps and bounds once he gets more skilled at the game to go along with his athletic ability.

Mills, a 6’ 2” guard from Alliance, Neb., signed with the Chadron State College Eagles.

Mills was forced to sit out his sophomore season because of a knee injury he suffered during his freshman season in February.

“One of the unfortunate things about sports is the injury. While we didn’t get to see the best of Jordan, hopefully Chadron will get a very good player for three years.” O’Connor said, “When he got hurt in February of last year, he was playing better than most of our guards and made improvements in leaps and bounds offensively and added pull up jump shots, and defensively. He learned to play at the pace you have to play in college basketball”

During his freshman season, Mills averaged 9.3 points per game, had 27 assists, eight steals, and 37 rebounds. Mills shot 38.4 percent from three-point range.

Mills said, “I got hurt last season and Coach Reed told me he was going to give me a chance to prove myself.”

Houston Reed, the head coach of the Eagles, previously coached for Region IX opponent Otero Junior College.

The Eagles are a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II program and is in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They finished with a 3-23 overall record and 3-19 in the conference.

The Knights finished this season at 22- 8 and the sophomores had a two-year total of 41-21 record with the Knights.

North Platte High School Activities Director, Marc Mroczek, has named Curt Softley as the new head girls basketball coach for the 2017-2018 school year. Coach Softley is currently the head girls basketball coach at Columbus Lakeview High School. Curt is a 2008 Perkins County High School Graduate and will be teaching high school business at North Platte High School.

Marc Mroczek, North Platte Activities Director comments: “Curt’s energy and passion for the sport of basketball will be a big asset to our coaching staff at NPHS. He has a great vision for the program and will do what is best for our student-athletes and youth programs. I am excited for the future of North Platte High School Girls Basketball team under his leadership.”

Softley takes over for Mark Woodhead, who resigned earlier this year.

NPHS Activities Director Marc Mroczek comments on Curt Softley

North Platte – Megan Chintala, a sophomore for the North Platte Community College Lady Knights volleyball team has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Chadron State College.

Chintala, a 5’ 3” Libero / Defensive Specialist is from Fleming, Colo.

Chintala had 1263 defensive digs in her two years with the Lady Knights. She is ranked seventh on the Lady Knights list for defensive digs in a career. She also had 519 service points, which is 24th in school history.

“I knew some girls on the volleyball team and was in contact with the coaches over Christmas break. I went for a tryout in February and really liked the coaches.” Chintala said, “I felt it was a good fit for me and the other girls were nice and it felt like home.”

Chintala said that she would be playing defensive specialist at Chadron.

“Megan has a tremendous volleyball IQ and I think that she will be a good asset for Chadron to have. She is always working on growing and getting better as a player. She is ready to take her skills to the next level and I can’t wait to see how she grows as a player.” Lady Knight Head Volleyball Coach Alexa McCall said, “I have been blessed to have her for two years as player and a leader for our program. She is a great kid I have loved working with her and wish her the best of luck.”

Chadron State is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II program and is in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They finished with a 7-20 overall record and 6-12 in the conference.

North Platte – Two starters from this year’s Region IX Division II championship team, Jessica Lovitt and Mickenzie Brennan have signed letters of intent to play basketball with the Chadron State College Lady Eagles for the 2017-18 season.

Lovitt, a 5’ 10” sophomore post player from Mullen, played both volleyball and basketball for the Lady Knights. She played two years of volleyball and one year of basketball.

Lovitt was a two-time All-Region IX player in volleyball and an All-Region IX player in basketball this past season. Lovitt averaged 12.4 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game.

“I have no doubt that Jessica will be successful pursuing her next step on the basketball floor. Her best qualities as an athlete are her work ethic and her competitive attitude and those are what will take her to the next level.” Lady Knight Volleyball Coach Alexa McCall said, “I enjoyed my time with Jessica and wish her the best because she’s a great kid.”

Lovitt said, “I chose Chadron because it is a good fit for me and close to home. I like the family atmosphere. There are a lot of local girls. I got the opportunity to play basketball here and I am going to go on with it.”

Richard Thurin, who retired in March after 16 years as head coach of the Lady Knights said, “Jessica has a great work ethic, attitude, and fierce competitor. She is very good in the classroom and a very good leader and example.”

Brennan, a 5’ 8” small forward from Ellsworth, Neb., played her high school basketball at Alliance High School.

As a Lady Knight, Brennan started all 56 games in her career. As a sophomore, Brennan averaged 6.2 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game. In her career she averaged 7.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.8 assists per game, and 1.2 steals per game.

“I really like the school and the program.” Brennan said, “It is close to home.”

Thurin said, “Mickenzie has a great work ethic and attitude. She is very good in the classroom and a very good leader and example.”

Chadron State is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II program and is in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They finished with a 7-18 overall record and 7-14 in the conference in the 2016-17 season.

The second half of the 2016-17 season is off to a good start for the Mid-Plains Community College Rodeo Team.

Members placed second in the men’s team standings during a rodeo hosted by South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. over the weekend.

Chandler Comfort, of Gem, Kan., won the team roping alongside his partner, Samantha Jorgenson, of Black Hills State University. The move pushed the duo even further into the lead in the regional standings.

Additionally, Cyler Dowling, of Newell, S.D., and Lane Kennedy, of Orleans, Neb., placed second in the team roping. Dowling was also second in steer wrestling.

Trenton Solida, of Phillipsburg, Kan., finished third in the tie down roping, and Rowdy Moon, of Sargent, split third and fourth in the bareback riding.

Garrett Nokes, MPCC Rodeo Team timed event coach, was pleased with the results, especially considering the circumstances.

“Some of the animals were pretty tough, so a lot of teams were struggling,” said Nokes. “We were having some challenges, too, in a few of the areas where I thought we would do really well. But, I feel like my guys did the best they could on the livestock they were given, and now we know what to work on before they compete again this weekend.”

He couldn’t help but be happy with the fact that half of the team scored points.

“I think that’s probably the worst rodeo we will have all spring, and we still ended up second,” said Nokes. “I’m real positive about the rest of this season. Now we have a baseline, and we’re just going to get better from here.”

The team will compete in four more rodeos through the first week of May. The next one will be Friday and Saturday at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.