USUE hosts SWAC Region-18 Tournament

This archived article was written by: Masi Steel

This weekend, USU Eastern hosts the NJCAA Region 18 Tournament featuring College of Southern Idaho, North Idaho College, Snow College, Salt Lake Community College, Colorado Northwestern Community College and USUE.
All teams are getting ready and are excited to compete for the top spot and a shot to go to the national tournament. For the first time in a long time, two spots for both men and women teams will advance to the tournament. These spots will be offered to the first and second place teams.
This tournament will be a great boost to the economy of Price, all hotels and restaurants will receive a lot of business from the visiting teams and fans. Athletic director and coach David Paur said he is excited for the opportunity to host the tournament. Both Eagle teams are preparing and are ready to test the skills they have been working on all year against the other teams of the conference one last time.
The women’s team is confident after beating both College of Southern Idaho and North Idaho College on the road two weekends ago. Paur was impressed by the on the road victory, he said that not many USUE teams have made that journey and come back victorious.
Paur is confident, saying, “The way we played last weekend on the road against NIC and CSI, and the way that we have been playing in the last half of our season we have a good shot of going to the national tournament.”
Paur states that most of the women’s teams in the region are even and anyone has a shot to go to the tournament. The team to beat would be Salt Lake Community College; with their impressive record, they will be the hardest to beat.
Assistant men’s coach Justin Brown says his team is looking forward to the tournament, all of the teams are even and at this point, it is anyone’s game. We are working hard and are focusing on strengthening their defense.”
All of the athletes are excited for the tournament. Men’s captain Josh Van Weezep said, “I think it’s a great opportunity for us. We’ve had a rough season with some tough losses. We have the talent to win the tournament and having it here is a great opportunity for us. We are ready to roll.”
Women’s captain Bryanna Adams said, “The team is ready for the tournament. Records don’t matter anymore it only matters how the team shows up and plays all the teams are even. The team is working hard and ready for the challenge. We are excited to play NIC during the first round, we have already beat them three times. I think that we will go far during the tournament.”