Dankers to head Glacier wrestling

The Glacier wrestling program has hired Ross Dankers to take over as head coach of the Wolfpack program, pending school board approval. 

“Ross has an outstanding vision for the program,” Glacier athletics director Mark Dennehy said in an email. “He brings a variety of experiences in high school programs that will help him lead the program in a positive direction. He also has a keen ability to coach all levels of wrestlers.”

Dankers, 24, was a Division III All-American at Concordia College in Morehead, Minn., and joined the Wolfpack as an assistant coach last season. Previously, he worked as an assistant at Perham High School in Perham, Minn. and ran the youth programs both at Perham and Concordia.

He will be taking over for Mark Fischer, who served as head coach for the Wolfpack since the program’s inception. Glacier won the Class AA state championship in 2012.

“I’m super excited,” Dankers said. “I think we’ve got a great class coming up that has a ton of potential. We have a lot of kids that are really good, hard-nosed workers. There’s a lot of potential that can definitely be reached in the future.”

Dankers moved to the area in June, having married Kalispell native Sara (Holmgren) Dankers. Originally from Cambridge, Minn., he has a health and physical education degree from Concordia College and teaches technology integration at Hedges Elementary School, helping kids learn math and reading through technology.

“I’m very excited for what we’ll see for the upcoming class and for many years to come,” Dankers said.