BV Lynx athletic teams welcome new head coaches, new roles for upcoming seasons

Believe it or not, summer is over – at least in the eyes of the South Dakota High School Activities Association. Practice has already begun for some of the fall sports, and the first soccer games are scheduled for Aug. 16.

With athletics now getting underway, the Brandon Valley School District has hired four new head varsity coaches, along with a role change at the varsity level.

Hannah Guenther 

Football Sideline Cheer

Hannah Guenther graduated from Augustana in 2023 and begins her second year this fall as a kindergarten teacher at Inspiration Elementary. The Watertown native cheered at both Watertown High School and Augustana.

Last year Guenther was a volunteer assistant coach during the winter athletic season for basketball at Brandon Valley. This fall, she takes over as the head sideline cheer coach for football.

The 24-year-old said she was in dance at Watertown from a young age before starting cheer in high school. She cheered for Watertown football and was also in competitive dance.

Pat Knopf - Boys & Girls Club Bowling

Pat Knopf takes over for Jill Reindl as the boys and girls bowling coach this season. The Dell Rapids native spent the last three years as Brandon Valley’s assistant coach.

This will be the 36-year-old’s first season as a head coach of any program, but he said he’s not feeling any pressure despite the boys’ team claiming the state title last season.

“Because I think we’re going to win it again,” he said. “We lost six seniors on the boy’s side, but we’ve got a lot of good, young talent coming up.” 

The Lynx boys also won state in 2009-10.

The Brandon Valley girls have two state championships in the club sport’s 22-year history in South Dakota, in 2003-04 and 2011-12. Knopf said he thinks there’s a chance for a third this season.

“It’s possible,” he said. “We only have three seniors, so it’s a younger group. But there’s a very good possibility they could win it this year.”

Tom Meester 

Boys Wrestling

Tom Meester has served as Brandon Valley’s assistant varsity wrestling coach since 2020. With head coach Derek Outland assuming the head coaching position for the girls wrestling program for the upcoming season, Meester has now taken over the boys program.

Meester came to Brandon Valley in 2018 as the Middle School wrestling coach where he served in that role for two years before moving into an assistant on varsity.

The Rock Rapids, Iowa native said he’s fully aware of the success at Brandon Valley in recent years on the wrestling mat. The Lynx won three straight Class A state titles from 2021-23. Last year, Brandon Valley had six wrestlers place in the state tournament; three of them graduated in May.

“The guys are aware of the amount of talent we’ve graduated,” he said. “They’re all putting in the time (this summer). Everyone wants to be good, but they know there’s some serious work that we have to put in.”

The 41-year-old is a Physical Education teacher at Brandon Valley Middle School. He wrestled collegiately at Augustana before serving as an assistant with the Vikings before coming to Brandon Valley.

Derek Outland

Girls Wrestling

Derek Outland begins his 23rd season with Brandon Valley’s wrestling program this season. But this winter, he’ll become the first girls-only varsity coach for the Lynx.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association sanctioned girls wrestling in 2020. Since then, Brandon Valley has had a handful of girls compete on the varsity level. Outland said he’d like to continue to build the program.

“I was really excited about building something new,” he said of taking on the new role. “Starting a program from the ground level and building that program up, that’s an opportunity I’m looking forward to.”

As the boys’ coach, Outland led the Lynx to three straight state titles from 2021-23.

The Rapid City native wrestled at Stevens High School before competing at Augustana in Sioux Falls.

He teaches geography and world history at Brandon Valley High School.

Aric Spader 

Girls Soccer

Aric Spader takes over the girls’ soccer program from Lexi Frantzen who served in the role for three seasons.

Spader comes to Brandon Valley after serving as a head coach for the Dakota Alliance Soccer Club in Sioux Falls for 12 years. He was also an assistant coach with the Augustana women’s soccer program for seven years, Sioux Falls Roosevelt’s girls’ team for a season when the sport was sanctioned by the SDHSAA. He started as an assistant for the boys and girls teams at Sioux Falls Washington.

After graduating from Washington, the now 33-year-old played collegiately at Mount Marty in Yankton before a knee injury ended his career. He later received his undergraduate degree from South Dakota State and a Master’s degree from Augustana.

Spader will have to get up to speed in a hurry with the Lynx. Practice began on Monday and he’ll have nine practice sessions with his team before they open Aug. 16 against Huron.