Warwick’s Anthony Touche competes in the 2025 Region 2 boys’ basketball tournament in Devils Lake. (Photo by Noah Clooten)
It’s official: Warwick and Minnewaukan will form a cooperative in three sports, beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
Back in July, Four Winds announced that its longtime co-op with Minnewaukan would be ending after 2025-26. Four Winds currently combines with Minnewaukan to form its boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, along with volleyball and cross country.
When Warwick’s first-year athletic director, Logan Kraft, heard about the impending split, he called Minnewaukan superintendent Kent Dennis.
“And he was more than willing to be open to the idea [of co-opping],” Kraft said. “And when I brought up that we were really interested, he was on board right away. … It was a nice, smooth process for us. It was something that we both wanted to do, and we knew that it would benefit both of our schools and our athletics programs tremendously.”
Kraft said he’s been working hard on getting this finalized since June.
“It’s been fun to see it come together,” Kraft said. “We’re excited to work together and continue to grow our athletics, as I feel athletics are a huge contributor to student success.”
Currently, Minnewaukan combines with Devils Lake for football, hockey, wrestling, baseball, softball and track and field. Warwick also co-ops with Devils Lake for softball. Those co-ops will be unchanged.
But, starting next fall, Warwick and Minnewaukan will combine to form teams in boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ cross country and girls’ volleyball.
The volleyball program will be new to Warwick. Minnewaukan already plays volleyball as part of the FW/M co-op.
“Since Minnewaukan has been involved in volleyball, they’ll kind of be the guiding hand, the leading force with that,” Kraft said.
In recent years, Warwick has had the most success in boys’ basketball out of any sport. The Warriors made state in 2023. Last season, they had the Region 2 Senior Athlete of the Year in Elijah Feather Jr.
Combining with Minnewaukan, which has done well with Four Winds over the last decade and a half, should only strengthen an already solid program.
Despite the success, Warwick’s numbers in boys’ basketball are still a little light. Last year’s roster only had one sophomore and one freshman.
“Looking at boys’ basketball, I think it’ll kind of help push us more towards consistent success,” Kraft said.
In May, Warwick boys’ basketball coach Ryan Brown stepped down after nine years. But the school recently announced that it’s bringing back Robert Lawrence — a 2000 Mr. Basketball runner-up — to lead the program going forward.
“Excited to have him,” Kraft said. “He’ll bring a lot of consistency. There’ll be some good discipline there. He’ll make sure we have a good, structured program. I think he’s got a great basketball mind that’ll be big for that program.”
Kraft said the co-op will also be a step towards boosting the girls’ numbers. Last year, by his recollection, the program only had eight or nine girls. They weren’t even able to complete a full varsity season.
This summer, though, Warwick hired LaShawnda Kenner as the new girls’ basketball coach. Kenner had been working at Four Winds, helping out the FW/M program over the last five or six years.
Since Kenner’s hiring — even before the impending co-op — Warwick has already increased its participation to about 15 girls.
“She brings in a lot of energy,” Kraft said of Kenner. “She has a great basketball mind as well. She’s disciplined. And I think with her, the biggest thing is she’s big on fundamentals. And I think that’s what our girls need a lot of, is somebody to teach them the basics and the fundamentals of the game. And I think she’s going to bring us back to a nice, competitive level within the state of Class B girls’ basketball. So we’re extremely excited to have her.”
The Warwick cross country teams currently have fewer than 10 rostered athletes, combined, between boys and girls. But they’ve been competitive for their size — especially Anthony Touche, a dual-sport athlete in basketball who made it to the state cross country meet.
Holly Retzlaff coaches the Warwick cross country runners.
“She’s done great things with that program,” Kraft said. “And I just think that it’ll continue to build. And both of us [and Minnewaukan] working together, it’s just going to help us. It’s going to help all of our programs, I think, with finding consistent success within the state.”
While the name of the co-op is yet to be finalized, Kraft expects to go forward as the Warwick/Minnewaukan Warriors, at least in the short-term. Minnewaukan recently elected the “Mystics” as its new standalone team name.
“We’ll continue to use the Warrior name and the logo,” Kraft said. “And then, as things proceed and grow and move forward, that’s when we’ll make a decision. … As of now, it’ll be the Warwick/Minnewaukan Warriors.”
