Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Reardan senior Ayden Krupke (center) officially signs with Bushnell University in Eugene to play basketball surrounded by her family and Reardan head coach Bob Swannack.
REARDAN-Ayden Krupke's basketball career isn't ending in high school. The local senior who led the girls' varsity team to a fourth-place finish in the NE2B this season signed to play for Bushnell University in Eugene Tuesday, April 26.
Krupke will play for the Beacons of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, which is an NAIA conference.
She was recruited by several NAIA schools, but she said she decided to sign the weekend after visiting Bushnell.
"That was the place I felt most comfortable when I visited," Krupke said. "Eugene is beautiful...and the people were extremely welcoming."
She was connected to Bushnell through a connection with Reardan head coach Bob Swannack and Beacons head coach Chad Meadors, whom Swannack knew from his days coaching in Oregon.
"(Swannack) told me he was talking to (Meadors) and was looking for a player like me," Krupke said.
Krupke, who led Reardan in scoring, assists and steals last season, said she's wanted to play collegiate ball since she started playing for an AAU team in middle school. She first played for Swannack at the club level in eighth grade.
"I knew (then) that basketball-wise and athletic-wise she could play somewhere," Swannack said. "I knew she'd be playing somewhere...if she chose to."
Krupke, who plans to major in biology at Bushnell, said she started taking the chance of playing in college more seriously her sophomore year, but regular coaching turnover at Reardan and the COVID-19 pandemic originally threw a wrench in those plans.
The addition of Swannack to the coach's seat and a more regular season her senior year helped get her goals back on track, she said.
"She's probably the most competitive kid I've coached beyond my own," Swannack said. "She'll be the best athlete on the floor in most games right away and bring that competitive edge (in college)."
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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