Towanda's Ripic named Male Athlete of the Year.
By: Brian Fees | Towanda Daily Review | June 4, 2012 | Photo courtesy Brian Fees
2012 NTL and District 4 News
For Towanda senior Zack Ripic everything in his senior season seemed to work out perfectly.
He was an all-state football player. He was a state medalist in wrestling and he was the NTL player of the year in baseball.
"It definitely was a year I only dreamed about," Ripic said. "I never thought I could perform like that and I'm sure I never could again. It really was the perfect year."
And now Ripic has capped of his senior year by being named The Daily & Sunday Review All-Region male athlete of the year.
"I definitely a appreciate that people see me as one of the better athletes in the NTL," Ripic said. "But, there are so many other people who deserve it to."
For Ripic the entire year was full of great moments, but there's not one that stands out above the rest.
"I don't have one every season this year, I got to play with great teammates and everyone really worked hard and that's really the best part," Ripic said.
While there wasn't one moment that was better than the others, Ripic does acknowledge that winning the regional title in wrestling was pretty special.
"That was definitely huge," he said. "It was a lot of adrenaline. I did not know I did it at the time. I didn't know I got the takedown.
"That was huge, it was one of the biggest moments of my career from this year." One thing that helped Ripic get to this point was having some great teammates to learn from over the years.
"Definitely the guys in front of me were all great and I learned a lot from them," Ripic said. "Cody Miller was all-state in football and I think Zach Place was an all-state linemen. And, Cody Wheeler being the second to get to a state final and Travis Chesla being the first to get to a state final.
"I looked up to all of them and learned a lot from them." Ripic knows that while the athletes before him were his role models, that he was likely a role model for younger kids this year.
"I'm sure I was a role model to some people," Ripic said. "I just tried to be a good role model." And, Ripic also was helped by having other teammates that excelled in sports pushing him to be even better.
"When you are surrounded by great athletes you want to be as good as you can be," Ripic said. Next year Ripic will attend Penn State University and he is considering the idea of at least trying to continue his sports career at the college level.
"I'm still torn," Ripic said. "I'm thinking about trying to walk on. After the baseball season I had this year I'm thinking about trying that. But, there's always football and I might try and walk on and punt."
This past season Sayre graduate Taylor Skerpon played on the Penn State baseball field and while Ripic knows how special of an athlete he is, he also gains a little confidence in seeing another NTL player play at Penn State.
"Skerpon is a great athlete, you don't find athletes like him many times," Ripic said. "He kind of broke the door down a little for the NTL."
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