Pinedale Wranglers Introduce Two New Coaches

Pinedale High School Athletic Director Jake Rich recently announced the hiring of new head coaches in boys’ basketball and girls’ swimming.

Assistant Marcus Helland has been promoted to head coach in boys’ basketball, while Ambr Seeman takes over as the girls’ swim coach.

Helland was the JV coach under Eric Oram last season. Oram stepped down earlier this spring. Helland is originally from a small town in Western Wisconsin, where he played basketball, baseball, and football. From there, he earned a scholarship to play basketball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Helland played there for two years and then transferred to play his last two years at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. He graduated from Wisconsin-Superior with an Elementary Education degree. Helland taught and coached JV basketball for a year and then became the Head Boys Basketball Coach for two years at Spooner High School in Wisconsin. He left Spooner and headed overseas to Durham, England to play professional basketball. While playing for a year in England, Helland received his Master’s in Education. Upon returning from England, he took a job in Metlakatla, AK where he taught 5th grade and Middle School Math. While in Alaska, Helland was fortunate to be a part of a State Championship basketball team as an assistant coach. After two years in Alaska, he and his wife moved to Pinedale where he is a 6th-grade math teacher.

The Wranglers were 6-17 last season and did not qualify for the state tournament.

Seemann will help with the Sublette County swimming and diving program.

In a release from Pinedale High School, Seemann said, “I am very excited to be considered for the high school girls’ swim coach position. I have a great passion for encouraging and inspiring kids to be the best they can be, the best people, the best students, the best athletes. For the past eight years, I have found, as a USA swim coach, that swimming gives many opportunities to influence kids of all ages toward this end. I look forward to carrying this over to the high school girls.”

Seemann and her family moved to Sublette County eleven years ago. She began coaching in Big Piney but has coached in Pinedale for the last five years. She started a USA swim team in Sublette County and has coached that for the past eight years.

She stated in the release, “We now have a solid parent-board that is very supportive in the growth of our team.

Thanks to additional practices, Seemann says the teams have grown in numbers from 5 or 6 swimmers to a team roster of 27 athletes. She believes in her squads enjoying swimming and learning to be people of great character.

As one swimmer stated, “I love swimming. Some people don’t want to swim. I don’t understand it. I always want to swim.”

Seemann said she continues her education as a coach. She’s also proud to have seen every senior in the USA Swim Program, over the past three years, has gone on to swim in college. Two current examples are Natalie Hunt and Israel Seemann, who recently signed with colleges. Seemann’s also had two swimmers qualify for Western Zones meet. Each year, they’ve had several kids qualify for the Wyoming Winter and Wyoming Summer state meets. In March, they took 7 swimmers, age 7-18, to Winter State. They won six medals and numerous ribbons.

Seemann grew up in Lander, Wyoming, and was part of the swim legacy that was created by Bruce Gresley and Tim Hester. I swam for the Tigers at the beginning of the state championship streak. Our high school girls’ team won the state championship three out of the four years. Having grown up where so much of the athletic culture and hometown pride revolved around swimming, I continue to see the influence of Bruce and Tim across the state. Many of the people that taught me to swim, that officiated our meets, and that were my teammates are still heavily involved in the Wyoming swim community today. That’s the definition of legacy.

“Through consistent dedication to the swim teams in Pinedale, I hope to create a legacy of great athletes who influence Sublette County the way the swimming community of Lander continues to influence the state of Wyoming.”

Sublette County finished in fifth place last November at the 2019 Class 3A Wyoming Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships in Gillette.