"New Blood" and High Hopes for Dayton HS Sports

A new Athletic Director and several new coaches hope to jump-start athletics at Dayton High School.

By Ken Graham

Holly Broderick is Dayton High School's new athletic director. She says she's always loved sports, competing in track and volleyball in high school. "My favorite track event was javelin," she says. "I don't look like a javelin thrower, and that was my secret weapon. People never expected me to do very well."

Holly grew up in Hillsboro, OR, where her dad is a banker. She graduated from Oregon State University last spring, with a degree in Business Management, and this is her first job out of college. She says she was ready for a new challenge and a new place to live. Holly's boyfriend, Will, also graduated from OSU last year as a civil engineer and recently took a job with the Corps of Engineers in Walla Walla.

"I'm really excited about the winter sports season this year," Holly says. "We have a lot of new blood in the coaching staff and the kids here are great." Holly says she is particularly excited about the wrestling program this year. "We have one of the best wrestlers in the state in Willy Whipple, and a lot of the younger kids are really enthusiastic about getting into wrestling."

The "new blood" that Holly refers to are the new coaches in boys' and girls' varsity basketball, JV girls' basketball and cheerleading. Here's a look at the coaching staff for this year's winter sports season:

• Boys' Varsity Basketball: Elmo Wise just came to Dayton from Illwaco, WA. He has coached basketball in western Washington and Oregon for nearly 40 years.
• Boys' JV Basketball: Teacher and former A. D. Tony Henderson is the new coach.
• Girls Basketball: Dayton native Scott Hudson begins his first year as head coach. He has been an assistant coach for both boys' and girls' teams for several years. Scott owns an accounting business in Dayton.
• Girls JV Basketball: Mona Himmelberger begins her first year as JV coach. Mona is the business manager for Dayton Schools.
• Wrestling: Mark Franklin is beginning his third year as Dayton's wrestling coach. He is a deputy with the Columbia County Sheriff's Dept.
• Cheerleading: Kassandra Dedloff is in her first year leading the cheerleaders.

As Dayton's A.D., Holly has a broad range of responsibilities. "My biggest job is scheduling," she says. "I have to schedule non-conference games and meets. I have to schedule busses. I have to schedule parent meetings." The A.D. also supervises the coaching staff, including setting coaching standards. She is responsible for monitoring academic and athletic eligibility of athletes and dealing with athletic code violations. And, of course, she must prepare for and attend every home athletic event.

We asked Holly if her relationship with boyfriend Will might soon become more serious. "Well," she said, "It's definitely serious, but there's just one problem. His last name is Woods. So if we get married, my name will be . . ." Hmm . . . let's see: first name Holly, last name Woods. Yup, could be a problem.

Copyright (c) 2007, Blue Mountain News

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