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Nestled along Hwy 3 just northwest of Fort Dodge sits a small town by the name of Pocahontas. Home of just under 2,000 individuals, Pocahontas is the birthplace of one of the most athletic families that the state of Iowa has had to offer: The Ruffridge family. Brandon and Karla Ruffridge are the parents to Elle, Shea and Tyce who all have left their mark on the town in one way or another. Elle is the all-time leading Iowa High School girls’ basketball scoring leader and won two state championships for Pocahontas High School and Shea and Tyce were state wrestling qualifiers, including a state championship for Shea during his senior season.  

      Elle would play basketball and study education at Missouri State while Shea, going into his senior season, decided to make his choice of secondary education. While he was a soon-to-be champion on the mat, Shea was also a three-time state qualifier, along with playing multiple sports including football and baseball. In fact, he almost went to college for baseball but thought his size didn’t fit the sport well.  

      “I felt like my strengths were in wrestling and I was almost too undersized for baseball,” said Shea. 

       After some thinking, Shea decided to wrestle at Grand View University in the fall of 2017.  

      “I fell in the love with the program here and felt like I’d be the most successful coming here no matter what, whether I ended up being a national champ or not, I felt like I’d become a better person,” said Shea.  

      Shea would redshirt his first year at GVU but would come out strong his freshman season as he advanced to the NAIA National Wrestling Meet as a one seed, but unfortunately came up short. His sophomore season saw highs and lows and almost resulted in him transferring away from the program. After some time to work it out, Shea returned to finish what he started. Shea would come back to finish third his junior season at the national championship and would have his eyes set on a title coming into his senior year. Shea would go through the season ranked 6th most the year, but got his way up to a 5th seed at nationals. There, he went on a dominant run and upset Life University’s Julian Hernandez by an 8-1 decision to capture his first individual national championship. He would also win Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year.  

      “I felt a lot of joy. I put a lot into this sport and it’s hard. And achieving something that I’ve been chasing for my life. I’ve been wrestling for 17 years, so to achieve something of that magnitude feels really good,” Shea said. “I love being the underdog, and I love the underdog mindset. Even though in my book, I knew I was better than the guys ahead of me, I just like the underdog role,” said Shea. 

      When asked about what changed from his junior to senior year, Shea said it was all about the people around him.  

      “I took a lot of the pressure off myself. I didn’t wrestle for myself but for other people. I have a tendency to do that, where I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I get performance anxiety. I’d feel like a musician who’d be out on the stage and forget how to play their trumpet or sing,” said Shea.  

      Shea also attributed his success to his growing faith throughout the season.  

      “I let that pressure go and got a little bit more religious during this season. I’m not the biggest believer in religion but we have a team chapel who comes and talks to us every Thursday and my faith just grew throughout the year. I think that really helped me through some of those mental battles,” said Shea.  

       Shea’s championship, along with five other Viking wrestlers who either finished runner-up or a champion, easily propelled GVU to their 11th national championship in school history.  

       While Shea competed for his first national championship during the NAIA Finals in Wichita Kansas, his older sister Elle was eagerly watching 390 miles away in Des Moines Iowa while watching players warm up for the Iowa Girl’s State Basketball 1A Championship Game at the exact same time. Elle had just finished broadcasting one of her first ever state title games and had quickly hopped off the air and found her laptop to watch her brother wrestler.  

      “It’s funny because I’m pretty superstitious when it comes to sports, and I was contemplating even watching it because I hadn’t watched a single match from the tournament leading up to that point,” said Elle. “Eventually it was my boyfriend of all people who told me, ‘Elle you can’t miss this. You have to watch it.’”  

      And that she did. While the lights were dark in the arena for starting lineup presentations Elle sat courtside with her computer screen glowing, displaying her younger brother capture a national title.  

      “It was amazing. I just wish I could’ve been there for him. Shea is always very understanding. And it sucked having to miss him win a national title, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world in terms of watching it,” said Elle.  

      Ironically, this isn’t the first time Elle had to watch her brother win a title through a laptop screen. Back in 2018 when Shea won his high school state championship, Elle was in the middle of a team dinner with her Missouri State teammates in Valparaiso, Indiana at a Noodles and Company watching it all unfold.  

      “My teammates were surrounding the table watching and I was bawling because I was so happy. But I was in a Noddles and Company when I saw Shea win a state championship,” said Elle. 

      Being there for her brother is always something Elle has fought with throughout her life. Being one of the greatest Iowa High School basketball players of all time did not come easy for her, or her family.  

      “At a very young age my parents and I had made this commitment to travel all across the country to play the sport that I love. So, Shea and Tyce were always my #1 fans and always followed me,” said Elle. “And of course, when he had a wrestling meet that I could go watch, I was his #1 supporter, but it was really hard to go to as much for my brothers as they did for me.” 

      Elle also talked about how much her parents, Brandon and Karla meant to her and her brothers for both being so involved in the Pocahontas School District with Brandon being the athletic director and Karla being a sixth-grade teacher.  

      “Looking back, it’s hard for me knowing I wasn’t there as much as they were. We were a family that was always on the go, and a lot of credit goes to my parents. I couldn’t tell you how many miles went on their cars, how much money they have spent on tournaments and hotel rooms. They always put us first,” said Elle. 

      The brother and sister athletic bond between Elle and Shea is one that will forever be remembered by Pocahontas High School and beyond for years to come. Coming up through school behind arguably one of the greatest high school basketball players ever to play the game was not an easy task for Shea, but he contributed a lot of his success based on what his sister did before him. 

      “She was just a huge motivator for me because I didn’t want to be that kid who was living in his sister’s shadow, even though she’s one of the greats of Iowa High School Basketball, but I just wanted to make sure I left my mark at Pocahontas like she did and our whole family has taken pride into that place and we all feel we’ve left it in a better place than we’ve found it,” said Shea.  

      While Shea gives credit to his sister, Elle gives credit to Shea from a support standpoint, but also spoke highly of Pocahontas in general and what the town means to her and her family.  

      “That town and that community has had such an impact on who I am as a person today. Just a lot of pride and joy within that school. Growing up in a small town; there is truly nothing better. You learn different values and work ethics. I think that is what made us the athletes and leaders that we are today. Pocahontas will forever be home,” said Elle. 

      For Elle, she currently resides in Spirit Lake where she teaches sixth grade in the school district just like her mom. She also will continue to broadcast state basketball tournaments for years to come for the Iowa Girl’s High School Athletic Union.  

      For Shea, he still has one more semester left in the fall to finish his education degree but plans to become an athletic director just like his dad.  

      Both Elle and Shea still stay in close contact with each other including an exceptionally long Snapchat streak that they continue daily. For the Ruffridge family, it has never been a competition against one another. It has always been about what they have left behind.  

      “In every sport I was doing, I just wanted to leave my mark, just like she (Elle) did,” said Shea.  

      And leaving their mark, Shea and the entire Ruffridge family has done.