Recruiting Report: Tyson Cruickshank (2018)
Five-foot-10 point guard Tyson Cruickshank of ThunderRidge has several schools looking at him for both basketball and baseball plus he is a key part of one of the state’s best backcourts.
“This off-season I played with both ThunderRidge and Colorado United and also played summer baseball with Slammers,” Tyson said. “This summer I was constantly traveling with both of my club teams but whenever I was in town I was lifting and getting as many shots up as possible.
“I felt my junior year was a huge success a I felt like I contributed a lot to our final four run but I’m definitely still disappointed about our end to the season. The final four fueled me to work harder this off-season.”
Tyson gave his team three buckets, a couple boards, a couple assists, and a steal a game as a junior and as a senior he wants to be more physical and aggressive in many ways.
“My main focuses of improvements have been gaining weight and working on creating my own shot,” Cruickshank said. “This summer I wanted to be more aggressive and learn to not be afraid to miss shots.”
Expectations are high at ThunderRidge and the returning talent has many feeling the Grizzlies can make a run.
“Our team this year is extremely well rounded,” Tyson stated. “We’ve got some of the toughest kids in the state in the post with Bailey Verk, Kevin Sax, and Austin Holt.
“We have so much depth off the bench, all of them are hard-workers and always compete at practice. And of course with Ortiz we are going to have discipline but this year especially we have a lot of fight and heart throughout our team.
“We are really just eager for the season to start. We all believe we can win the championship, we have all the heart and talent to do so.”
Like any player Tyson hopes he can give his team numbers but the ultimate goal is about winning in March.
“Me personally I want to be averaging double figures but that really is the least important goal for me this year. I just want to win a state championship and we are going to do anything as a team to accomplish that. I really want to be a leader of this team and represent the culture of ThunderRidge.”
Tyson is a standout in baseball and basketball which is why several schools are calling him regularly.
“I’ve been talking to a few schools,” Tyson said. “Colorado College, Illinois Tech, Lake Forest, and Wheaton College for basketball. For Baseball I’m talking to Trinity University, Augustana College, and Barstow Community College.”