Nevada Athletes Dominating Nationally

Just about every week, we can pick up a paper no matter where we are and see a former Nevada athlete dominating. It was not that long ago, that we were crying for respect trying to get the attention of anyone on the West Coast to recongnize our athletes. We would go back to Mike and Greg Maddox of Valley, Tyler Houston of Valley, a UNLV player or 2 doing well - but not what we are seeing now!

I know that we are a forum to discuss High School Athletes and what is going on as they make their way to college or towards winning years. But, I have to get on the soapbox to talk about the obvious. Nevada athletes are having a HUGE year.

Former Durango High School Alums - Kyle and Kurt Busch are once again in the limelight. The transformation of Kyle after 5 years of racing in NASCAR has been tremendous. He could so easily say to Rick Hendrick "So are you happy that you kept Casey Mears over me now"? But, he has not done this. Week after week the kid continues to show that Las Vegas has a healthy driving community where talent exists at the Bullring each weekend. His winning this weekend of the Coke 400 was a thing of beauty and poise. Normally, we would see the Wunderkid get bent out of shape and shove his way into position which normally would have led to a wreck. Now the kid drives with patience knowing that he has the equipment and team to win races. Why this great team with all of these resources could not have won any sooner - has everything to do with the driver. He has been the difference. Older Brother Kurt could have been hot at his team and said that he was leaving Penske because they are not as competitive as the other major teams. But, he has not done that either. He just continues to push hard to get his car into position. Now we have new native Patrick Carpentier who continues to make strides in equipment that has been inconsistant as well. All this means that our local High School Athletes that are driving to reach their dreams of going to NASCAR to follow the Busch brothers have even more attention being thrown to them.

Bishop Gorman has had a monster year. I know that you are going to have all of the haters of the Gaels saying why do they deserve any more press than anyone else? How about former Gael In Bee Park? That Winner of the Girls State Championship while at Gorman just 2 years ago. She decides to forego college and makes the decision to petition the LPGA to have the right to go on tour at the age of 18. She wins the petition and now 2 years later she captures the US Womens Open! Park deserves huge props and again all she has done has provided local golfers for the chance for more colleges to come into Las Vegas looking for talent.

Having Gorman finish the year ranked 13 th in the country for Baseball in USA Today continued the strong year of Gorman. Girls Basketball is ranked in the Top 10 teams in the US and Football ends up ranked in the Top 10 in the West by USA Today. Then Sports Illustrated ranks the Top High Schools in the US and Gorman is ranked in the Top 10! Hate all you want, you can only hope that the success of Gorman provides more interest by outside teams to come into Las Vegas to play the Gaels while hopefully other teams from Las Vegas will also get to play these top flight teams as well.

With their new campus, Gorman Girls and Boys programs are putting into motion a long term plan where they will be hosting national tournaments in Las Vegas in December and also in July. With the CCSD killing the Holiday Prep Classic, which was one of the premier tournaments in the country that provided a chance for our local teams to play against top talent. Make sure to check on dates and teams coming into play at Gorman this Fall. Again, this just does not benefit Gorman - it will benefit all teams who are wanting to match their teams up against top talent.

In reading the college football guide books, just turn the page to Oklahoma to see more Las Vegas Alums doing well. Demarco Murray and Ryan Reynolds will be starting and should be among the top finalists for the Big 12 Conference First team.

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After Torrin Harris and Justin Chaisson commmitted to USC and Oklahoma respectedly, you only need to look at those players who paved the way to get these athletes a chance to be looked at. We will once again have a really strong Senior football class in Nevada. Basketball is shaping up as an exciting class led by Elijah Johnson of Cheyenne. Baseball will once again be strong. Girls basketball has been a hot bed of talent for national programs now as well.

So as easy as it is to say - Kyle Busch, Inbee Park and Greg Maddox are national stories. The fact is that they are helping to pave the way for today's athletes to follow and we should continue to root hard for them so that others will again continue to take a hard look at our athletes for chances in the future.