By Morgan Rode sports@newmedia-wi.com
Leader Photo by Morgan Rode Coach Dave Hanssen, right, encourages Shawano’s Carrie Young during the 4x800-meter relay during the Division 1 D.C. Everest Sectional on May 23. Hanssen, who coached at Shawano for three seasons, is retiring from coaching.
Shawano Community High School track and field coach Dave Hanssen is calling it a career.
The long-time coach spent the final three years coaching the Hawks after previous stints in Watertown (1977-2013) and Oconomowoc (2014-2015).
When Hanssen first moved to Shawano, he had no intent of coaching. But when Shawano needed a new track coach after Scott Smurawa stepped down after the 2016 season, Charmaine Schreiber — the school’s athletic director at the time — talked with Jessie Hanssen, Dave’s daughter-in-law, which led to an interview.
Hanssen soon accepted the job, noting Schreiber’s personality and having an urge to give coaching another go.
In the three years under Hanssen, Shawano enjoyed plenty of success.
“The first thing I’m proud about is the development of the program,” said Hanssen. “In track, one person can’t do it by themselves. You have to have a good staff. That is the foundation of a good program…”
Hanssen put a priority on trying to have a coach watch each of the school’s athletes as they competed and always seemed to get the best out of each individual.
“Competing for Coach Hanssen was always the best because he motivated you to be the best athlete you can be,” said recently graduated Parker Pues, a state qualifier in the long jump in 2018. “He conducted practices by putting athletes into groups based on their events, and he worked around injuries really well which definitely helped prepare us for meet days.
“He would always shake your hand and tell you good luck before all the big meets and he would always get excited when you would set a PR (personal record). Also, whenever you got a PR he would bring a bag of tootsie pops to practice and whoever PR’d the day before would get one.”
One of Hanssen’s proudest moments from the past three years came just over a month ago when the girls team finished tied for second at the Bay Conference Meet.
Seven Hawks made it to state over Hanssen’s tenure, with two — Atty Wagner (high jump, 2018) and Payden Buck (pole vault, 2018) — making the podium.
Another proud accomplishment for Hanssen is the development of Shawano’s track history online. With the help of Grant Wojka and Susan Sazama, Hanssen was able to create a top 10 list of times and distances for each event and also create a list of the school’s state qualifiers dating back to 1919 for the boys and 1972 for the girls.
Hanssen’s top 10 list was put to good use at this year’s D.C. Everest Sectional, when several individuals and relay teams set personal bests and cemented their names among the top Shawano athletes of all times.
“This season was the height of my career,” said Hanssen. “The coaches’ goal is to get their athletes to peak at the right time. At sectionals this year, only one athlete didn’t reach her personal best in her event, and that is because she ran her heart out in the previous event.”
“It was a coaches’ dream come true,” added Hanssen, remembering a tough state meet while coaching Watertown in the mid 90s where things went about as poorly as they could have. “Why not go out on a high note?”
Hanssen’s career included plenty of high notes.
He helped athletes qualify for state in the high jump 24 times over the course of his coaching career — Shawano had four high jump state qualifiers over the past three years.
Hanssen has also helped guide 27 individual sprinters and jumpers, 10 distance runners and four sprint relays to state.
He was named the Coach of the Year for District 6 by the Wisconsin Track Coach’s Association three times while coaching at Watertown. Hanssen also won three conference titles.
“Coach Hanssen was the best coach I’ve ever had. He knew how to talk to me to get me where I needed to be. He pushed me harder than I’ve ever been pushed, and he made me love the sport more than ever,” said Carrie Young, who also recently graduated.
“He knew exactly what to say to get you to want to work harder. He also made you confident in yourself and ready to compete to the best of your ability. He, on top of that, was someone who turned into a friend for me who I trusted with anything. That’s a massive bonus.”
As for his future, Hanssen will hope to do what he set out to when he originally came to Shawano — enjoying the outdoors and to “be a participant to life, not a spectator.”
Hanssen said he was more than willing to share advice with the new track staff and that he was thinking about becoming a track official.