By: Nate Calvin
Ryan Ripke is stepping down as the Head Girls’ Basketball Coach at Delta High School after 11 seasons of guiding the program.
“I want to thank the Delta administration, community, and parents for all their support”, Ripke said in a prepared statement released by Athletic Director Andrew Hange.
“In my opinion, I had the best coaching job at Delta because of the hard-working and selfless groups of young women that I had the privilege of coaching.”
“So, I need to thank all those girls for buying in to our philosophy, and it is because of them, I coached for so long.”
“I also want to thank the assistants who supported me and helped us succeed: Larry Bruce, Kelsey Girlie, Jon Mignin, Nate Ruple and Ron Rouleau.”
In his 11 seasons, the Delta Lady Panthers won 182 games, three NWOAL championships, eight Sectional titles and two District Championships.
Ripke coached six 1,000-point scorers, six different All-State players, five players who went on to play at the collegiate level as well as others who played college volleyball, soccer and softball.
“I was privileged to coach many talented basketball players. A few of them achieved great individual accomplishments, but there were many others who contributed just as much to our success but didn’t get the recognition as the others.”
“These 11 years were definitely a team effort and everything we did was ‘as one’, Ripke concluded.
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com