The Donte Minter Tour continues Thursday.

West Rowan’s rising senior is flying to Colorado Springs for the prestigious National Sports Festival.

Some states don’t have two players going to the sports festival in three years but West Rowan has accomplished that feat. Scooter Sherrill, now at N.C. State, played in the 1999 festival.

The 6-foot-8 Minter will be one of just 45 players invited. He was an alternate until Shavlik Randolph of Raleigh bowed out.

“You have one of the top five players in the country not playing and who do they choose to replace him? Donte. So it’s a great honor,” West coach Mike Gurley said.

Minter is the only player from North Carolina in the festival. He is expected to be on the South roster.

Rashad McCants, formerly of Asheville Erwin, is technically representing New Hampshire, where he is playing for a private school. He is a University of North Carolina recruit and will play for the North.

Justin Gray started his high school career at West Charlotte but is representing Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

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Just another reason I hate all-star teams and polls:

Central Cabarrus softball pitcher Crystal Cox struck out a state record 429 batters in 205 innings. She went 30-1 with eight perfect games, 14 no-hitters and 25 shutouts.

year for 50 states, Cox was not the North Carolina player of the year. A player from Wilmington won it.

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Jay Leno, noting that Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson were at Sunday’s NBA game, said: “So you had Clinton, Jesse Jackson and a bunch of NBA players all in the same building. Whew! You can bet the women were handed out birth control there the whole night.”

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Dyran Peake, one of the South Atlantic Conference’s top defensive backs during last season’s 11-1 Catawba College campaign, will be a graduate assistant for Duke’s football team this fall. Talk about going from the penthouse to the outhouse ...

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Trivia question: Who is the only pitcher to have faced Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Maris?

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Los Angeles is already preparing for an NBA championship celebration. In fact, the Lakers are holding a riot dress rehearsal.

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Radell Lockhart, another former Catawba star, is doing a little work on his own after practice with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The 6-4, 280-pound defensive end from Charlotte is running in the ocean, building up his endurance.

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The Minnesota Twins are planning to honor National Spelling Bee winner Sean Conley. Team executive Patrick Klinger said, “We’ll see if he can spell (Doug) Mientkiewicz.”

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Spotted in a recent summer prep basketball tournament in Roanoke, Va., playing against West Rowan, was Duke recruit J.J. Redick.

The Cave Springs, Va. product came down just before halftime, pulled up from 25 feet and effortlessly drained a 25-footer, ala Allen Iverson. The 6-3 guard will be just another in the long line of future Blue Devil stars.

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From Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel: “Did you see President Bush eagerly shaking hands with all those clean-cut baseball players at the College World Series? My guess is the president was asking the same question of each player: “Do you drink? No? Want to meet my daughters?”

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At least one newspaper reported that former Kannapolis football coach Bruce Hardin was a finalist for the Greensboro Page job.

Hardin, now at Providence High in Charlotte, lost out to Page assistant Bob Via. Page was 12-2 last season.

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Jim Rome on Fox Sports Net’s “The Last Word”:

“How on earth did Clinton make it to the French Open, the Belmont Stakes and the NBA Finals all in one week? I guess he had nothing better to do. I guess spending time with Hillary is totally out of the question.”

Actually, they were together at the Belmont.

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Ed Emory is back in coaching. The former East Carolina head coach has taken the job at another college, er, excuse me, high school. He now resides at Richmond County, which most consider a good small college program to most of its opponents.

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Former Louisville coach Denny Crum wed local TV anchorwoman Susan Sweeney on Saturday at Louisville, Ky. This is the third marriage for Crum, 64, who accepted a $7 million contract buyout in March. Sweeney is 38.

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Trivia Answer: Nolan Ryan.

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Whatever happened to ...

The last year that the minor-league baseball team in Kannapolis sported the name “Boll Weevils,” it was the best team in its history.

So where are they now?

No one from that team was cut and are either in Double A Reading or high Class A Clearwater.

In Clearwater, the hitters are continuing to do well but the pitching is faltering.

Nate Espy (.287, 11 doubles, 4 HRs), Jorge Padilla (.289), Jay Sitzman (.261) and Buzz Hannahan (.255, 8 SBs) are holding their own.

Pitching wise? Brad Baisley is 0-3 (6.65), Ryan Madsen is 3-4 (4.65) and Frankie Brooks is 1-3 (3.89).

Here are some more familiar names:

In Triple-A Scranton, Dave Francia is hitting .300. Pitcher David Coggin is 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA. Brandon Duckworth is 4-2 with a 3.48 ERA.

And Reggie Taylor, the No. 1 draft pick a few years ago, is batting a meager .163.

In Double A Reading, Marlon Byrd is hitting .260 with 30 RBIs, Brett Myers is 4-1 (2.52), Jason Kershner is 3-4 (3.49), Carlos Silva is 4-2 (2.95) and Adam Walker is 5-2 (2.15).

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And finally ...

During Game 3 of the NBA Finals Sunday, Bill Clinton talked to fans through a chat on NBA.com. Clinton, asked who he was rooting for, said, “I can’t say — both Philly and L.A. voted for me twice.”

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Contact sports editor Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .