Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Taylor Ryan always knew she wanted to be a college athlete and she knew exactly where she wanted to play.

It was picking her future sport that took the Solon senior some time.

“I knew I wanted to play a sport and I knew I wanted to play for Iowa,” Ryan explained. “When I was younger I was really into soccer so I wanted to be a soccer player at Iowa, then I wanted to play basketball and more recently I got bit by the softball bug and that’s all I’ve wanted to do for a while.”

Ryan had her dream officially become a reality on Wednesday when she signed a national letter of intent to join the Iowa softball program.

The senior center fielder verbally committed to first-year Iowa coach Renee Gillispie last month and joined classmates Kate Benzing (Truman State volleyball) and Gabby Marty (Baylor University equestrian) in signing national letters of intent on Wednesday at Solon.

“It wasn’t even a question,” Ryan said of her decision to play at Iowa. “As soon as they called me I committed. It’s all I ever wanted.”

Actually, all Ryan ever wanted was to play a sport at Iowa.

It wasn’t until former Solon coach Jim White spoke to Ryan at a team banquet following her sophomore season that she was sure her future was on the softball diamond.

“At our banquet Jim would say something to each player and he told me that he thought I was going to be a Division I softball player,” Ryan said. “After that I just thought I could really make it happen. That was all I wanted to do from the on.”

The post-banquet comments from White came following a sophomore season in which Ryan hit .529 with 73 hits and 38 stolen bases while earning second-team Class 3A all-state honors.

She back up that strong season with even better numbers last summer.

Ryan ranked fourth in the state with 73 hits and seventh with a .579 batting average a year ago.

The speedy center fielder led Solon with 52 runs and 37 stolen bases and was a first-team all-state pick.

“I think she has continually gotten better,” Solon coach Erin White said. “Although I wasn’t on staff all those years I was able to sit and watch and she worked hard to get better. I definitely saw her raise her game to the next level this last season and leadership wise too. She had to step up and kind of try to be the people that at times they weren’t comfortable being and she stepped into that role and did a fantastic job.”

Ryan reached out to Gillispie shortly after the Danville native left Central Florida to take over the Iowa program in June.

“I emailed coach two days after I found out she was hired and everything just fell into place,” Ryan said.

Once the Iowa coaching staff made contact with Ryan things moved quickly.

The Hawkeyes invited her to a camp and a visit and watched Ryan at a tournament in Kansas City. 

A few weeks later she had an offer and gave her commitment on the spot.

“When I got a call from Coach Gillespie that was exciting,” Ryan said. “I didn’t even have to think about it.