- The Yankton School District has announced the fulfillment of three vacant coaching positions at the varsity level, doing so with two new hires and one familiar face.
- Geoff Gross will take the helm of the Yankton Track and Field program, bringing a substantial resume to the position. Gross, having most recently served as the Activities Director and Assistant Principal in the Beresford School District, has over twenty-years coaching experience through three career stops, Winner, Pierre and Mitchell, having also served as Activities Director in the latter. While Gross says he loves his time as an administrator, and is proud of the work he has accomplished, he feels his true calling is, and always has been coaching.
Gross has been head coach of 41 Individual, Relay, and Team State Champion Athletes in his career, and has been named the 2002 Gatorade Circle of Champions Girls Track Coach of the Year, 2006 South Dakota High School Coaches Association Boys Track Coach of the Year, and was inducted into the Pierre Athletic Hall of Fame in 2020. In addition to coaching, Gross will also continue his educational work in the English department at Yankton High School, and will assist the Activities Department.
- Caitlyn Savey just wrapped up her collegiate cross-country career at Augustana, and now will pass on that knowledge to the Bucks and Gazelles Cross Country Team, something she is eager to begin.
While at Augustana, Savey competed on teams that made appearances at three NCAA DII National Cross Country championships. At Beresford High School, Savey was a part of the 2015 Class A State Runner Cross Country Team. This will be Saveys first coaching job, as well as her first teaching job, as she will begin teaching 6th grade math this next school year.
- Jill Muth is not new to the Yankton School District, but will be new to head coaching at the varsity level, but so would everyone else when it comes to the Yankton Gazelles Softball Program. Softball will begin its inaugural season as a sanctioned sport under the state activities association next spring, and Muth will be the first head coach in Yankton High School History. Muth says being the first coach in program history can be overwhelming, but also very exciting.
The softball program plans on playing their games on the northwest turf field at Sertoma Park, and their first game will be played the second to last week of March.
- Three of South Dakota State’s offensive standouts were named Monday to the Athlon Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America Team. The Jackrabbits’ three selections were tied with Montana and North Dakota State for most on the 27-member team. Leading the list of Jackrabbit honorees was junior tight end Tucker Kraft. Kraft hauled in 65 catches for 780 yards and six touchdowns in 2021. He recorded at least one reception in all 15 games and topped the 100-yard mark in three contests. Fellow junior Isaiah Davis, was one of two running backs selected to the squad. Davis was limited to seven games this past fall due to injury, but still managed to rack up 701 yards on 95 carries (7.4 ypc) with seven touchdowns. Davis was the Jackrabbits’ leading rusher during the 2020-21 spring season, gaining 818 yards with 10 touchdowns. Rounding out the list of SDSU honorees was offensive lineman Mason McCormick. A senior from Sioux Falls, McCormick has started 27 consecutive games at guard, helping pave the way for the Jackrabbits to average 36.1 points and 441.1 yards of total offense per game in 2021. South Dakota State has reached the FCS playoffs each of the last 10 seasons and has advanced to the national semifinals four of the last five seasons. The Jackrabbits are scheduled to kick off the 2002 season Sept. 3 at Iowa.
