Six local youth had the opportunity to participate in the Denver Nuggets Basketball Skills Challenge sectional competition hosted at the Longmont Recreation Center on Sunday, Feb. 12. The sectional event consisted of local winners from Berthoud, Erie, Longmont and Louisville competing against one another for the opportunity to win a chance at competing at the state competition to be held in Denver in March.

Jake Walker, winner of the Berthoud local event, took home first place in the boys 12- to 13-year-old division at the sectional event. His scores for each skill are the following: 82.5 for dribbling, 90 for passing, and 105 for shooting, for a total score of 277.5. The second-place score for that division was 232.6. Walker now has the opportunity to participate at the state competition on March 18 at the Gold Crown Center in Denver.

Walker wasn’t the only Berthoud participant to come home with some hardware from the event.  Harper Dawe took third place in the boys 6- to 7-year-old division with a total score of 107.5.  Wyatt Barmes just missed out on a first-place finish in the boys 8- to 9-year-old division, finishing with a total score of 171 to take second place. In the boys 10 to 11-year-old division, Connor Jorissen took fourth place with a total score of 182.5.  In the girls 10- to 11-year-old division, Paige Farnam took fourth place with a total score of 139. Then in the girls 12- to 13-year-old division, Riley Witting took second place with a final score of 167.5.

The Berthoud Parks and Recreation Department would like to congratulate all of the participants for their accomplishments at the sectional competition and want to wish Walker good luck at the state competition in March.