It was a long, full Saturday for yours truly.
That’s good, though, because we got a ton of notable Washington County sports moments out of it. Congrats to the Arlington girls basketball team and the Blair girls wrestling squad for winning their conference tournaments, by the way.
You may notice, however, that none of those Eagles or Bears are their schools' Nannen Physical Therapy Athlete of the Week.
Uh oh, right? I have some explaining to do.
Colby Bentley, Fort Calhoun basketball: This Pioneer had a couple of rough months there after his injury during the football season. Last Tuesday, though, he looked back to his old self, scoring a team-high 15 points against Arlington in a great matchup. He added eight points during a win against Conestoga, too, so I want to congratulate him on his recovery and his increasingly strong play since. Special mention goes to wrestlers Beckah Gossman and Ali Dill, who earned first and second, respectively, during the Raymond Central Invite.
Oliver Ladehoff, Arlington basketball: Eagles senior Britt Nielsen hit the game-tying and game-winning buckets Saturday as the AHS girls won the Nebraska Capitol Conference Tournament final against Yutan. So, I picked Ladehoff as the Athlete of the Week. I can explain. Nielsen was already the Athlete of the Week not too long ago and Ladehoff is on a basketball run of a lifetime right now. The 6-footer scored 25, 13 and 21 points in NCC Tourney play this past week, leading the Arlington boys to a third-place finish. He’s good. Special mention, of course, goes to Nielsen and wrestler Kelise Krivohlavek, who won another tournament this weekend in Albion.
Hudson Loges, Blair wrestling: This senior Bear deserves Athlete of the Week mention almost every week for the success he’s having this season. He’s the Eastern Midlands Conference champion at 138 pounds, improving to 43-1 overall this Saturday. Special mention, of course, goes to the BHS girls wrestling lineup, which did win the team title at Elkhorn High School. It was certainly a joint effort and I simply couldn’t pick an overall Athlete of the Week from the EMC champion contenders — Siena Smith, Ali Wheeler, Katie Wheeler, Jaslyn Raymond, Jo Inget, Applelynn Berryman and Reata Malmberg. Congrats to them all.
So, there. I defended my picks for Athlete of the Week. Everyone mentioned here today is tremendous, though, so make sure to congratulate them if you see them this week.