Student Athlete of the Week-Walt Van Riper

When the Niwot Cougar baseball team took the field for the first time March 12, senior Walt Van Riper was on the mound. Van Riper went four innings in the opening 10-9 loss to Skyline in a non-league game, but was not involved in the decision. At the plate he had two hits in four plate appearances, scoring twice and driving in a run.

The versatile Van Riper, who also started as a guard on the Cougar basketball team, is in his third season with the varsity squad, which boasts seven seniors. His sophomore season was short-lived as the pandemic canceled the season after the first scrimmage.

Last year, Van Riper saw action behind the plate, as well as at first base, second base and in the outfield. This year he will continue his versatility. "It looks like I'm going to be playing middle infield - shortstop and second base," he said.

Van Riper comes by his love for baseball naturally, as his grandfather, Richard Van Riper, was an All-Ivy League pitcher at Dartmouth in the 1950s. "He said he got a letter from Branch Rickey," Van Riper said, referring to his grandfather.

Van Riper started playing baseball when he was six years old. "I've played it for a really long time," he said. "It was probably a lot of my dad convincing me. I always practiced with him." Van Riper's father Doug was also a baseball player in high school in Connecticut.

Van Riper is no slouch in the classroom either, carrying a 4.2 GPA at NHS while taking some Advanced Placement and IB classes. He has applied to seven universities, and plans to study business, with an emphasis on marketing.