Nelson to represent LRSC in Florida for NJCAA all-star games

Article by Sam Herder, Devils Lake Journal Sports, July 19^th, 2016.

Lake Region State College athletics hasn't been shy of the national scene in recent years.

The junior college in Devils Lake, N.D., has continually sent athletes to the highest stage at its level.

This weekend, Cassidy Nelson will add to that list as she'll represent the Lady Royals basketball team at the eighth annual NJCAA Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Weekend in Niceville, Fla.

She was one of 40 NJCAA student-athletes chosen to be a part of the weekend.

To add to the trip, LRSC's former longtime women's basketball coach Duane Schwab will be inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame.

"It's a great honor," LRSC head women's basketball coach and athletic director Danny Mertens said of Nelson. "People don't realize it's Division I, II and III. So it's all of NJCAA. When you take that overall, it's a huge honor to be one of the top 40 in the country. A lot of that attributes to going to three straight national tournaments. We're getting our name out there."

Along with three straight national tournaments, LRSC saw Kristal Flowers of the women's basketball team earn NJCAA National Player of the Week honors last season. Golfers Kelsey Schlenk and Eric Gullicks made the national tournament this spring.

And last summer, Kennedy Henningsgard played in this same all-star weekend.

"I just want to get the word out about Lake Region more," Nelson, a 5-foot-11 center from West Fargo, said. "We can get different athletes from different states. Lake Region is a good stepping stone if you want to play at a four-year school. So you can come here to get your two years and then go on to a four-year."

Nelson averaged 14.3 points per game as a freshman in 2015-16 while starting in 13 of her 29 games played.

The full all-star game weekend is July 21-24. 

The hall of fame banquet takes place Friday night and the games are played Saturday and Sunday between four teams of 10.

"It's good for your program in the sense that you're on the national stage," Mertens said. "It's good for your players. Cass will be a captain for us and now she can come back and give back to these freshmen and sophomores."

Mertens said one thing he and Henningsgard learned last summer was the physicality and the quickness it takes to make that next step as a player.

The first day typically involves position drills where several coaches do 10-minute drills. Four-year coaches also use the weekend as a recruiting tool. 

"I would say I'm kind of nervous, but excited," Nelson said. "I look forward to meeting new people and opening up my network of people I know. I'm also nervous because you have all those Division I, II and III athletes that you're going against. I'm kind of short for my position, so it will be interesting to see how that turns out."

Nelson's mom and sister will also make the trip along with LRSC Vice President Lloyd Halvorson and Schwab's son to watch the hall of fame ceremony.

"I thank him every day," Mertens said of Schwab, who he coached under as an assistant. "He built this program to where it is. It's my job to keep it going. I give him credit where credit's due. It's the highest honor you can get for a coach at his level. It's a heckuva honor. I don't know how else to put it. It's a great, great thing for us and I can't express that enough."

It will be a busy agenda for one of the NJCAA's biggest weekends. And LRSC's name will be scattered across the national landscape once again.

"It's something Schwab started," Mertens said. "We're carrying it on here at Lake Region. And we're doing it with local people. We'll have two North Dakota kids now going to Florida to participate in an all-star game. It's a credit to our hard work and the athletes we have up here. You have to thank the school first of all for giving us these opportunities to put our name out there and be on the national stage."