press & dakotan plain talk fall sports 2017 yankton...
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PRESS & DAKOTAN PLAIN TALK FALL SPORTS 2017: PAGE 5
Yankton Cheer, Dance Teams Under New LeadershipBY JAMES D. [email protected]
When the Yankton competitive cheer and dance teams open the 2017 season on Aug. 29, both teams will be under new guidance.
Lindsay Kortan, who spent the last two years at Bon Homme, has taken over the competitive cheer program. Emily Smith, who spent over a decade coaching club dance teams in Sioux Falls before moving to Yankton, takes over the competitive dance squad.
Here is a look at each of the two new coaches:
Lindsay KortanFor the � rst time since competitive
cheer became a high school sport in South Dakota, the Yankton Gazelles will have a new leader.
Lindsay Kortan, a former Gazelle, takes over the program from Kerry Evans, who helped begin the varsity program in 2007 .
Kortan graduated from Yankton High School in the spring of 2006, just miss-ing the varsity sport era for Gazelles cheer. Since getting in to teaching and coaching, her goal has been to return home.
“My husband and I live in Yankton,”
she said. “It was my plan to make it back here, and I have.”
Kortan sent an early message about how the Gazelles would be during her tenure.
“In our � rst meeting, I went over our priorities,” she said. “Cheer can be a pretty dangerous sport, so our � rst priority is safety. Number two is attitude and effort.
“That puts winning as third, but I � nd that if attitude and effort are there, usu-ally the winning follows.”
Her desire to coach extends beyond the desire to compete or to teach.
“I coach because I like to spend time with the girls,” Kortan said. “I � nd it enjoyable. I like to have fun.”
Kortan believes that cheer — and other sports — have lessons that reach far beyond the competition � oor.
“I think sports — participation in sports — teaches more than just the sport itself and the technique of the sport,” she said. “It teaches coopera-tion, being committed to something and showing determination and persever-ance.”
Moving up to Class AA after coaching in Class A has come with some adjust-ments, Kortan said.
“There are a lot more girls with a tumbling background because of the gymnastics program that Yankton has,
so that helps us out a lot,” she said. “For the most part, things are very similar: teaching good technique, teaching basic skills so that you can move into the more elite stunts.”
Emily SmithAfter over a decade of running a
competitive dance club squad in Sioux Falls, Emily Smith moved to Yankton and embraced a new opportunity: high school dance.
“When I moved to Yankton, this opened up,” said Smith, who took over from former Gazelle Anne Kinsley. “I thought it would be something new and different to try.”
For Smith, the opportunity to focus on one squad — not a number of squads ages 4 and up — was also appealing. Once she began to train the Gazelles, she learned she had plenty to work with.
“The girls are awesomely trained in Yankton,” Smith said. “Dance has been a big part of their lives, so they’re already trained.”
Smith hopes to build on that training level.
“We got a good choreographer, and the routine challenges them,” she said.
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JAMES D. CIMBUREK/P&DEmily Smith (left) and Lindsay Kortan take over Yankton’s competitive dance and competitive cheer programs for 2017.
BY JAMES D. [email protected]
New head coach Lindsay Kortan takes over a veteran squad as the Yankton com-petitive cheer team begins its 2017 season.
Kortan is the � rst new face in charge of the Gazelles since the program began in 2007. Kerry Evans, who stepped down after the 2016 season, had either been co-coach or head coach since the program was formed.
“It’s going really well,” senior Kendall Megard said of the transition. “She’s been pushing us a lot, which will pay off by the end of the season.”
The 17-member squad boasts seven seniors and four juniors, which has also helped the transition. Three sophomores, a freshman and two eighth graders round out the lineup.
“It will be tough next year, but it’s nice to have that senior leadership,” Kortan said. “They’ve been doing a
good job of providing positive feedback.”
Seniors include Makenzie Delozier, Tessa Folkers, Taylor Kotschagarow, Abby Kuipers, Nicole Langdon, Megard and Lauren Vik. Juniors include Samantha Kortan, Amy Pierce, Madison Schaefer and Miranda Schulte. Sophomores Madison Anstine, Larkyn Mason and Payton Steffensen, freshman Meghan Delozier and eighth graders Keyara Ma-son and Milena Nedved round out the roster.
One of the things Coach Kortan has worked on is adding to the team’s skill set, allowing for a more dif� cult routine.
“In the past they had never done anything single-leg, and we put in a lot of single-leg stuff,” she said. “It is huge in terms of progressing the dif-� culty level.”
Challenges like that have the team excited, according to Vik.
“We have some stunts with a hard level of dif� culty,” she said. “We have a lot more tumbling, and our stunting
skills have gone up. We’ll be a lot better this year.”
The Gazelles open the season at the Watertown Invitational on Aug. 29, then return home for their one home event, the Yankton Invitational, on Sept. 7. Having a meet before the home meet is a good warmup, according to Vik.
“It’s exciting to have an away meet before we have our meet at home,” she said. “We can get our � rst meet jitters out of the way.”
The Gazelles have eight meets before the Eastern South Dakota Conference Championships, Oct. 12 in Huron. State will be held Oct. 21 in Rapid City.
The Gazelles � nished 12th a season ago, and have not � n-ished better than ninth since placing � fth in 2011.
“Our goal is to do well at state,” Megard said. “We want to place better than in past years.”
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BY JAMES D. [email protected]
A young squad joins new head coach Emily Smith as the Yankton Gazelles com-petitive dance squad looks to make waves in Class AA.
The Gazelles have four se-niors, two juniors, six sopho-mores and three freshmen on the squad this season.
“We have some great senior leaders on the team,” Smith said. “We have some very strong freshmen and sophomores.”
Yankton had a veteran group a season ago, meaning it took a little time for ath-letes to adjust to new roles.
“We got off to a slow start, but Coach has been great,” said senior Leah Waid. “We lost a lot of seniors, but we have a lot of amazing sopho-mores. It’s been an interest-ing transition.”
The Gazelles roster includes seniors Waid, Savan-nah Frick, Piper Mikkelsen and Emily Novak, juniors Tia Vlasman and Olivia Liebig, sophomores Kelsie Faulk, Ky-lie Briest, Brynlyn Hamberg-er, Megan Highland, Paige Hoesing, Larykn Mason and Payton Steffensen, and fresh-men Bergen O’Brien, Grace Liebig and Lainey Renken.
While Smith is in her � rst season with the Gazelles, she had run a club dance program in Sioux Falls for over a decade before moving to Yankton.
“Coach is super experi-enced. She really knows a lot about dance,” said Frick, a senior. “She has been good about getting our routines clean.”
In competitive dance, teams are scored on three dances in four disciplines: hip hop, kick, jazz and pom. The Gazelles will have rou-tines in all four.
“You never know how things are going to go during the season,” Smith said. “It gives us more options.”
The “option” that has
the Gazelles excited is the hip-hop routine. Yankton has a strong history in the disci-pline — posting the state’s top score four times from 2007-2012 — but it has not been an emphasis in recent years.
“We haven’t done hip hop in quite a few years before last season,” Frick said. “We’re excited about showing that one off speci� cally.”
The Gazelles open the season at the Watertown Invitational on Aug. 29, then host their lone home event, the Yankton Invitational, on Sept. 7.
“I am very excited to see them go out on the � oor. They want to hit the � oor hard,” Smith said. “We have a very awesome hip hop routine, and I’m excited for
them to show off some strong hip hop dancers.”
Yankton will have eight events before the Eastern South Dakota Conference Championships, Oct. 12 in Huron. The team is not shy about their goals.
A veteran Yankton Gazelles competitive cheer squad, including seven seniors and four juniors, is ready for its first season under coach Lindsay Kortan.
Veteran Cheer Squad Ready For Challenge
the talented Bucks squad pick up right where they left
off a season ago. A roster loaded with experience and skill should make for a fun season for Yankton and their fans.
“The guys have a goal to not only make the playoffs, but win games in the post-
season,” said Brenner. “This team is fun to watch and we are excited to see what we can accomplish.”
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YHS SocFROM PAGE 4
Young YHS Dance Squad Ready To Make Waves In Class AA
The Yankton competitive dance team brings a young but talented squad into the 2017 season, the first under coach Emily Smith.
DANCE | PAGE 6
k_SD_Yankton_FallSportsAd_GoodLuckAthletes_4.937x4 “Good Luck Athletes.”/ Job #16-0104 Misc. printAugust 21, 2017 2:01 PMColor: B/WPublication: Yankton PressInsertion Date: 8/25Insertion Order #: 2281Size: L - 4.937” x 4”