McDonald's nominations

01-23-2006

A total of 11 San Diegans were nominated for the McDonald's All-American High School All-Star boys and girls basketball games that will be played on March 29 at San Diego State's Cox Arena.

The 24 boys and 24 girls (two 12-player teams) will be announced in February.

The boys nominees are La Costa Canyon's Arizona-bound Chase Budinger, Vista's Kenny Lawson (Creighton), Poway's Todd Lowenthall, El Camino's Marquisse Navarre and Scripps Ranch's Marcus Wilson.

Budinger, a 6-foot-7, 185-pounder who was the Breitbard All-CIF Player of the Year, is ranked by Student Sports as the No. 1 player in California and the 10th best player in the nation. He could be the first San Diego boy selected as a McDonald's All-American since St. Augustine's Jelani McCoy in 1995.

Lawson, one of San Diego's most improved players, said he was just happy to be nominated.

“To be honest, I don’t expect to be picked for the McDonald’s game,” Lawson said. “They nominate 100 or 200 guys and only pick 24. I never expected to get nominated. Just being nominated shows me how far my game has improved.”

The girls nominees are Mount Miguel's Jerica Williams (UCLA), El Capitan's Allison Duffy (San Diego State), Santana's Jordan Franey (UC Santa Barbara), Valley Center's Paige Mintun (UC Davis) and Eastlake's Brittany Daniel.

San Diego sent two girls to the McDonald's All-Star game in 2004 when San Diego High's Charde Houston, now at Connecticut, and La Jolla Country Day's Candice Wiggins, now at Stanford, were chosen.

Tickets for the McDonald's All-Star game can be purchased by clicking on the McDonald's icon on the sdhoc.com home page.