WINTER SPORTS 2016: PAGE 3A PRESS & DAKOTAN n VERMILLION PLAIN TALK Young Bucks Don’t Look Like Other ‘AA’ Squads BY JEREMY HOECK jeremy.hoeck@yankton.net Justin Olson is in his first season as the head coach of the Yankton gymnastics program. He had been an assistant for the Gazelles the previous five seasons. Olson Excited For First Head Coaching Opportunity BY JAMES D. CIMBUREK James.cimburek@yankton.net After playing high school basketball, Justin Olson expected that his coaching career would involve hoops in the winter. Little did he know that opportunities would lead his first head coaching position to be in gymnastics. Olson is in his first year as head coach of the Yankton gymnastics program after spending five seasons as an assistant coach. Olson, who began his coaching career at his alma mater of O’Gorman, had expected that basketball would be the sport he would coach in between football and track seasons. “I had played basketball in high school, so I was looking to coach basketball for my third sport,” he said. “I was approached by (O’Gorman gymnastics coaches) Shawn and Lana (Bauer), and they introduced me to the sport of gymnastics. “And it stuck.” Lana (Anderson) Bauer-White, a former Yankton gymnast, and her then-husband Shawn taught Olson the ins and outs of gymnastics, beginning in 1996. Olson left O’Gorman a few years later, but the love of gymnastics didn’t leave him. When he joined the Yankton staff six years ago, he welcomed the opportunity to get back into the sport. “Coming in here, I fit in with coach (Luke) Youmans and the rest of the staff,” he said. “We did everything together, and it was a good situation for me and the team.” Youmans stepped away from gymnastics after the 2015-16 season, when he was named the head cross country coach for YHS. (He had already been head track and field coach.) For Olson, it was a great opportunity for his first head coaching job. “Transitioning into the head role, it was a little bit different,” he said. “But the transition has been nice.” Olson said he has tried to ease the team through the transition. “I didn’t change a whole lot, but I changed some stuff, as any other head coach would do,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you don’t want to overhaul everything right away. You just want to come in and do it gradually.” One of the biggest changes Olson made was utilizing a more-intense strength and conditioning program. “That has already started to show up a little bit,” he said. “By the time we’re getting to the big meets, like ESD and state, hopefully this will mean fewer injuries.” Olson has made other changes with how OLSON | PAGE 4A YHS Gym FROM PAGE 2A on both balance beam and floor, and third on the vault last year. “She is a very talented gymnast, and very humble,” Olson said. “She fit in right away.” Olson, who was also at O’Gorman before moving to Yankton, had worked with Steffensen earlier in her career. Freshmen Hailey Gokie, Mackenzie Havranek, Jenna Diede and Ashlynn McGhee, eighth graders Jana Greenfield and Lauren Gillis, and seventh graders Callie Boomsma, Allison Johnson and Maggie Schieffer are also competing for the program.” With the level of talent in the gym for the Gazelles, the bar has been raised entering this season. “We want to break the school record,” Guthmiller said, referring to the standard for best team score in a competition. “We only want to go up hill.” The Gazelles opened the season with a score of 135.35 in a triangular at Mitchell on Nov. 28. Yankton saw defending state champion Mitchell in each of its first three outings, including two at Mitchell High School. The Gazelles have four home events, beginning with a triangular with Sioux Falls Roosevelt and Sioux Falls O’Gorman on Dec. 8. Yankton will finish the home portion of its schedule on Feb. 2 when it hosts the Eastern When Chris Haynes says his team has a “weird dynamic” he means it’s rather unique. You don’t often have varsity teams — particularly in the Class AA ranks — that count sophomores and eighth-graders as experienced. But that’s what Haynes has this season with the Yankton High School boys’ basketball team. Season-ending injuries to pair of seniors a year ago derailed what could have been dominant team. But there was a blessing in disguise. “That allowed younger guys playing time that they maybe wouldn’t have gotten otherwise,” said Haynes, who begins his fifth season as head coach. “The fact that we’re young and have experience is a unique thing for us, and at our level.” And the Bucks will need those younger players to take the next step forward. Yankton, which was 8-15 last season, returns seniors Nate Stephenson (who played in 14 games due to injury) and Justin Leader (13 games), and added senior A.J. Fernandez to the team. So, even right there, the Cameron Krejci is one of the juniors upperclassmen don’t exactly who saw varsity playing time during boast a ton of varsity experithe 2015-16 season. ence. Justin Leader is one of three seniors for the Bucks, who went 8-15 a season ago. “We’re obviously still pretty young, but most of the people got some time last season,” Stephenson said. “So I think expectations are higher than what they probably are around the state.” To get to the point, however, where they’re exceeding expectations, the Bucks will rely on guys like Cameron Krejci (Jr., 1.2 ppg), Jack Wolfgram (Jr., 4.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg) and Casey Krejci (Jr., 0.6 ppg). The improvement of YHS BOYS | PAGE 4A ‘15-‘16 Stumbles Drive Gazelles BY MICHAEL HAMMOND sports@yankton.net After a season that ended in disappointment a year ago, the four Yankton Gazelle seniors will look to lead their team to greater success. The Gazelles saw their season end in the district play-in game Girls’ Basketball at the hands of 12/13 at Brookings 6:15 p.m. Brandon Valley. 12/15 vs. Harrisburg 6:15 p.m. 12/17 at Brandon Valley 5:15 p.m. This year, se12/20 vs. S.F. Washington 6:15 p.m. niors Madason 12/22 at Mitchell 6:15 p.m. 1/6 vs. Pierre 6:15 p.m. Tessier, Lindsey 1/7 at Aberdeen Central 5 p.m. Hale, Josie 1/10 at S.F. Lincoln 7 p.m. Sayler, and Kami 1/14 vs. Watertown 4:15 p.m. 1/17 vs. S.F. O’Gorman 6:15 p.m. Cornemann— 1/21 at Huron 5:15 p.m. who missed last 1/24 vs. Brookings 6:15 p.m. 1/26 at Harrisburg 7 p.m. season due to 1/28 vs. Aberdeen Central 5 p.m. injury—set the 1/31 vs. S.F. Roosevelt 7 p.m. team’s goal of 2/7 vs. Brandon Valley 6:15 p.m. 2/11 at Pierre 5:15 p.m. avoiding the 2/14 vs. Huron 6:15 p.m. play-in game 2/18 at Watertown 5:15 p.m. altogether. 2/21 vs. Mitchell 6:15 p.m. 2/24 Dist. 2AA Play-In 7 p.m. “They have 2/27 District 2AA 7 p.m. been focusing 3/2 District 2AA 7 p.m. 3/6 Region 1AA 7 p.m. on improvement 3/16-18 State AA (Rapid City) TBD for a few years and at some point it has got to start paying off for us,” Gazelles coach Trey Krier said. “They set the goal of being out of the play-in game and be in the district tournament, then go as far as possible after that.” In order to reach this goal, Yankton is going to run an up-tempo system and this year they have the bodies to do that. “During the summer months we had a lot of open gyms and team camps to figure out what we are going to be,” Krier said. “I think that we have a lot more depth and we can have 12 different girls competing for playing time.” Behind the core of seniors will be juniors YANKTON Yankton senior Lindsey Hale attacks the basket. Also pictured is senior Josie Sayler, 50. South Dakota Conference Championships. “We host four meets this year,” Olson said. “Hopefully we can build excitement throughout the season and, but the time ESD rolls around, this place will be rocking. “This could set the tone for many years to come.” Olson is joined on the coaching staff by Cody Lukkes, Amy Schander and Kaiti Porter. Lukkes has been an assistant for the Gazelles for several years. Schander, in her first year at YHS, is a former head coach at Sioux Falls Washington. Porter, who will be in charge of the middle school program, was a talented prep gymnast in Minnesota. “The girls are responding to the coaching staff,” Olson said. “Everything’s working very well.” Follow @JCimburek on Twitter. 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