AUGUSTA – Community support means a lot to Augusta’s Cody Ripato.

Although he only experienced it for a year with the Panthers upon transferring from Lewis County, the senior guard was welcomed with open arms to the basketball team, school and community.

“They did a tremendous job of accepting me as part of the family. Like Ms. McCane just told me ‘Once a Panther always a Panther.’ I’ve been accepted into the family in no time. Owens (Crawford), Cam (Snapp) and all those guys that played here before were accepting me and inviting me to come play pick-up games. They made the transition really easy to come in, relax and feel like I’ve been here for years,” Ripato said.

That helped with his confidence and the guard put together a solid season, good enough to earn him an opportunity to play at the next level as he signed his letter of intent with Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin on Thursday.

“As an athlete this is a day that you always think about all your life. Kind of that hard work pays off. Today means everything. Having my team here, my coaches, my family. The pen to the paper was kind of the cherry on the top. Your hard work pays off and everything you’ve worked for sealed it,” Ripato said.

Ripato was at Lewis County his freshman through junior year. In his senior season at Augusta, Ripato averaged 8.7 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. Those numbers don’t tell the story of what Ripato provided on a daily basis for the Panthers though.

“He leads by example. He came in and worked extremely hard. He spends extra time in the gym. He’s a motivator, he’s an inspiration to the younger kids. They’re going out and putting extra time in the weight room and on their own outside of the team scheduled practices. He’s always looking for extra opportunities to get into the gym and continue to work on his game and that’s what has got him to this point,” former Augusta coach Brian Kirk said. “Cody was very versatile and did what his team needs him to do. There were several nights where he didn’t have to score, he focused more on the defensive end or rebounded more. He wanted to be the guy that did whatever it took for our program to be successful. Having those type of guys in a program are very important.”

The choice to go to Lawrence came after Ripato decommitted from Ohio Christian University, who experienced a coaching change during the recruiting process.

“Coach Stockman at OCU took a job at Columbia International in South Carolina. That opened things back up for me,” Ripato said. “I took a drive down there and visited, just didn’t feel like it was the best fit for me and my future. Looked at some other schools, talked to Lawrence quite a bit before, really liked the coaching staff so it was a long process, not the easisest, but feel the coaches know what they’re doing and feel like there’s a lot of success to come from there.”

Despite the long distance from Augusta, the feel of community support when Ripato made the eight and a half hour trek up to Appleton helped sell him to the Vikings.

“I’m a little nervous, but more of an anxious type of person and ready to get going. I like the area a lot, Appleton, city of about 70,000. They are really invested in their team and in their school. They have 2,500-3,000 people that come to their games,” Ripato said. “For a Division III school, that’s incredible. Community is invested into their team as well as their school…kind of what Augusta is and that was a big pull for me.”

Ripato wants to major in either business or marketing and hopes to become a basketball coach further down the road, preferably in the college ranks. He’ll work on his game over the summer in Augusta with some solid competition from others who have gone on to play at the next level, including five over the last five years starting with Brent Bach going to Bellarmine and the trio of Owens Crawford, Connor Maddox and Jared Shoemaker at Kentucky Christian University.

“It’s very exciting for the program this size to be able to provide that many opportunities. We had plenty of others that could have had that opportunity if they pursued to go that route. Some of them focused on other responsibiliites, but it’s exciting anytime you get a kid to play at the next level, it’s always exciting to see kids having success outside of their home school or hometown,” Kirk said.

Augusta’s Cody Ripato signs his letter of intent, Thursday, to continue his academic and basketball career at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_015.jpgAugusta’s Cody Ripato signs his letter of intent, Thursday, to continue his academic and basketball career at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Augusta’s Cody Ripato signs to play with Lawrence University

EVAN DENNISON

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