UNO Students to Compete for US in World Wheelchair Basketball Championships

OMAHA - A pair of University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) students have been named to the 2017 U.S. Men’s U23 World Championships team and will compete for the chance to bring home a gold medal in wheelchair basketball this summer.

Freshman Jeromie Meyer and Junior Brent Regier, who are both members of UNO's wheelchair basketball team, will join 10 other young athletes during this year's international competition, which will pit Team USA against the best of the best from other countries including Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Canada and more.

In January, Meyer and Regier competed for the US U23 Wheelchair Basketball team as they went an undefeated 6-0 against other world championship hopefuls Brazil, Chile and host country Argentina. Brazil was the other team to advance from the preliminary round.

This year's IWBF Men's U23 World Championships will take place in Toronto from June 8-16.

“I am extremely proud of Jeromie and Brent on making the US U23 National Team and representing the US,” Head Coach Mike Kult said. “Both of these athletes have worked extremely hard on improving their all-around game to meet the high standards of the US National Team. Both of these athletes will be great ambassadors for the US and UNO.”

Other members of Team USA include athletes from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Missouri, University of Texas-Arlington, and Ebinboro University in Ohio.

Team USA has reached the championship game in three of the last five U23 World Championships, having won in 2005 and 2009. The United States claimed a bronze medal in 2001, and did not participate in 2013.

This past year was the inaugural season for the UNO wheelchair basketball team, which is part of the 10-team Intercollegiate Men’s division of the NWBA. The team is led by Kult, who is also UNO Campus Recreation’s associate director for facilities and a former national-championship juniors coach with the Nebraska Red Dawgs.

The U23 men's wheelchair basketball program is an international development team that serves as NWBA pipeline to the U.S. Men's National Team. This program provides elite youth athletes the opportunity to compete at the international level.