Tribune Notebook: New Ridgewater Warriors coach busy recruiting

Nov. 21—WILLMAR — Ryan Schultz has a mission that seems deceptively simple: Find 12-15 players for next season's Ridgewater College women's basketball team.

Of course, if it was easy, it'd have been done.

Schultz, the new head coach, was hired in August, too late to recruit at the NJCAA Division III school, which has no athletic scholarships. His first hope was to find enough players to field a team in 2023-24. It didn't happen.

"We tried," Schultz said. "We gave it our best shot. We were only returning one girl and we only knew of one player coming in.

"We have good athletes here. But they've chose to focus on school. It (playing junior college basketball) is definitely a commitment, coming here to play."

He's aiming for a full roster for the 2024-25 season. It's been the top issue for the program the past half-dozen seasons. The past year, Ridgewater went into several games with five healthy players and usually six or seven. It's not a good way to do it, Schultz admitted. That's why he has spent the fall recruiting.

There have been virtual visits, plenty of phone calls and some on-campus visits. Schultz believes getting players on-campus is key. They usually like what Ridgewater has to offer facility-wise.

He'd also love to have most of those 12-15 players be from within a 45-mile radius of the campus. But it's a challenge. Doing that means he bumps into players being recruited by St. Cloud Technical & Community College, Central Lakes College in Brainerd and Minnesota State-Fergus Falls.

With west-central Minnesota largely rural and predominantly made up of small-school programs, it has meant that Schultz is also focused on finding talent elsewhere.

"It'll be a lot of city (Twin Cities) kids," Schultz said. "We have a handful that we've reached out to. We're trying to get something started."

The good news for Schultz is that he'll have time this winter to see a lot of potential players live. He's planning on attending some big tournaments in the Twin Cities and hopes to get some visits lined up.

He's also canvassing the area. He was the coach at Yellow Medicine East before taking the Ridgewater job and has been a long-time AAU coach.

"I loved Granite Falls and I still live there," Schultz said. "When I saw the job opening listed in August, I know I had to give it a shot. It was tough to leave YME."

Schultz is from Dawson and is a Southwest Minnesota State University graduate. He's a student life administrator at Ridgewater, helping out with a variety of things, including handling the school's athletic website and social media accounts. He also supervises the weight room and fitness facilities.

"I knew this year would be difficult to field a team," he said. "But I'm excited about the opportunity and excited about the program."

The Willmar boys soccer team had three players named to the Minnesota Soccer Coaches Association All-State team in Class AA.

Senior forward Miguel Altamirano Toruno made the first team. Senior midfielder Isaac Zelaya Velasquez and senior defender Wilfredo Chavez were named to the second team.

The trio helped lead the Cards to a 14-2-2 season, including 8-1-2 in Central Lakes Conference matches. They finished runner-up to Sartell in the CLC. Willmar lost to eventual section champion St. Cloud Tech in the playoffs. Altamirano Toruno, Zelaya Velasquez and Chavez all were named to the all-conference team, as was goalkeeper Carson Eichhorst.

* Former Willmar star Kenzie Jones has cracked the starting lineup for the Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team. Jones, a 5-foot-10 junior rward, is averaging 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game for the Mustangs. She came off the bench her first two seasons at SMSU, averaging 2.8 ppg last season.

SMSU is off to an 0-4 start heading into a Tuesday night game at Wayne State in Nebraska.

* Jaylyn Clardy, who wrapped up a fine two-year career on the Ridgewater men's basketball team, is playing for Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut. It's an NCAA Division III school. The Mariners are an NCAA Division III program in the Great Northeast Conference.

Clardy is a 6-2 junior guard originally from Pine Forest High School in Pensacola, Florida. He's averaging 12.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game for Mitchell, which is off to an 0-3 start.

The Willmar dance team competed on Saturday at the Paul Bunyan Inviational in Brainerd. Willmar finished seventh in the Class 1A/2A Division in Jazz with 21 rank points. Crosby-Ironton took first with 4.5. In Kick, Willmar was sixth with 17 rank points and 284 total points. Crosby-Ironton won the division with three rank points and 327 total points.

Brainerd won the 3A Jazz and Kick Divisions.