Mineral County athletes named All-Conference

SUPERIOR – This season, the Mineral County schools had 10 athletes recognized for their exemplary performance on the basketball court by receiving the all-conference title.

All-conference players are chosen during the week of the District Tournament. Coaches from all the teams in the district met and voted on who would receive the title. Each coach nominated the best players of their teams to receive the all-conference title, but they were not allowed to vote on members of their own team.

“You don’t always get your way,” said Lady Bobcats Head Coach Jeff Schultz. “You just put forth the ones that you think can make it and hope for the best.”

According to Schultz, only 15 players receive the title, five first team, five second team and five honorable mentions.

For the Superior girls, sophomore Danielle Ewoniuk and junior Jordan Mueller were granted the honors for the Lady Bobcats. Both girls were named to the second team all-conference.

The coach was happy the girls were selected. Both girls will have the opportunity to return next season, which made Schultz especially happy.

The Alberton girls were also able to celebrate as some of their members were given the all-conference title. According to Kyle Fisher, principal and athletic director of the Alberton schools, two girls were named all-conference.

Senior Ryan Vicek was named to the second all-conference team, while junior Taylor Erdman was given an honorable mention.

The Superior boy’s team also had players named all-conference and led the pack in numbers. Five of the Bobcats received the title. All five all-conference boys had amazing seasons on the starting lineup in every game.

Seniors Jarrod Tippens, Clint Voll, Tucker Smith, Tanner Smith and junior Wyatt Zylawy were named all-conference players this year. Zylawy was given an honorable mention, both Smiths were second team while Voll and Tippens were first team.

Bobcat Head Coach Chris Toivenen felt all five guys deserved the honor and was impressed so many from the team were voted in. The coach said it was very rare for one team to get five of the fifteen all-conference spots.

“When you go undefeated in league and during regular season, it tends to lend itself to a lot of players who are deserving of honors,” Toivenen said. “I was sure glad to see that those guys were picked.”

The five Superior players put everything they had into helping the team as a whole. With this work ethic, Toivenen felt it was no surprise they did so well during the season.

The guys did not do much celebrating when the all-conference players were announced. Toivenen said they were more focused on ensuring the team had a great season rather than focusing on their individual victories.

“After some of the victories we had, we had kids jumping around, excited beyond belief,” Toivenen said. “When I told them they got this and that, they said ‘oh, thanks coach.’ They were happy about it, but it goes to show how dedicated those kids were to the team. Their team goals were much more important than the individual.”

Toivenen said it was very rare for so many kids from one team to make all-conference in one year. After 10 years of coaching, he could not remember more than one or two kids being named all-conference at a time.

One of the Alberton boys also took an all-conference spot. Fisher said senior Andrew Lommen received an honorable mention.

With almost half of the all-conference players able to come back next year, the coaches are looking forward to the next basketball season. Schultz was excited and said the teams next year could only benefit from having all-conference players involved.