ALUMNI: Davis High graduate returns as coach

PHOTO: Davis High graduate Owen Yancher has coached the DHS men’s JV swim team for four years. (Credit: Fred Gladdis)

By Mia Croff,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Davis High alumnus Owen Yancher began writing for the Davis Enterprise as a staff writer and sports columnist mid way through his senior year in high school. However, journalism was not originally of interest to Yancher.  

As a sophomore, Yancher took the course Multimedia Journalism 1.  “I actually didn’t like it,” Yancher said. “It was stressful with all the deadlines and I didn’t like being assigned stories.”  

Despite his first impression of the course and skipping journalism his junior year, Yancher signed up for the HUB class his senior year as a business manager with some of his friends.  “I was willing to go back in if I didn’t have to write,” Yancher said.  

However, Yancher began covering sports games at the start of the men and women’s basketball season. Although originally not fond of the writing element of journalism, Yancher began producing high quality sports coverages and getting them posted to the school’s website and social media platforms faster than writers on the Davis Enterprise staff.  

The young journalist’s work was soon noticed by Bruce Gallaudet, sports editor of the Davis Enterprise, who reached out to Yancher.  

“I told him I could do it better and he offered me a position.  I’ve been doing it ever since,” Yancher said. With no post high school plans, the job was “the right thing at the right time.”

Thankfully, Yancher’s opinion of journalism has greatly improved since his sophomore year. “I get paid to watch sports. It’s pretty sick,” Yancher said.  

However, Yancher’s choice to cover sports was not a coincidence. 

Along with his early success as a journalist, Yancher was also an accomplished athlete. Throughout high school, Yancher was a member of three DHS sports teams: JV baseball, varsity football and varsity swimming.  Yancher swam for the men’s varsity swim team for four years and was an All-American swimmer for the DHS team two of those years.

Now as a 22-year-old sports writer and a veteran Blue Devil athlete, Yancher coaches the men’s JV swim team. This upcoming swim season in the spring will mark Yancher’s fourth year coaching at DHS.

“Being on the other side is really cool.  I can really relate to the swimmers because I’m so young,” Yancher said. 

This swim season marks a very special occasion for Yancher. The freshmen swimmers he originally instructed his first year coaching will be graduating this 2020 school year. Yancher will have to say goodbye to his players, just as he said goodbye to DHS only a few years ago.  

“It was tough saying goodbye. Maybe that’s why I haven’t left,” Yancher said.