Hamline University Women's Gymnastics

Shane Wagner '06 will embark on his sixth season as Hamline University head men's hockey coach in 2026-27. The Pipers have accumulated two MIAC Men's Hockey All-Conference selection, and five honorable mention accolades in Wagner's three seasons at the helm.  Wagner arrived to Hamline after four seasons with the North American Hockey League's (NAHL) Minot Minotauros, which included one season as the head coach in 2020-21. Wagner led Minot to 23 victories in his lone season as head coach, which secured them an appearance in the 2020-21 NAHL Robertson Cup Playoffs. Prior to Minot, Wagner spent one season with the Minnesota Magicians (NAHL) as assistant coach. The Stillwater, Minnesota native got his coaching start with the Hudson Crusaders of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League (MNJHL), where he served as the head coach from 2012-15. Wagner led the Crusaders to a 70-58-10 overall record throughout his three-season stint. Wagner was a four-year member of the Hamline University men's hockey program (2002-06). The defenseman registered 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points over 83 career games played for the Pipers. The 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons saw Wagner earn All-MIAC Honorable Mention. Wagner ranked third on the Pipers in scoring during the 2004-05 season as a defenseman with three goals and 11 assists for 14 points. Following his collegiate career, Wagner spent six seasons playing professionally with the Jacksonville Barracudas (SPHL), South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL), Twin City Cyclones (SPHL), and Mississippi Surge (SPHL).   Year Overall Conference MIAC Playoffs 2021-22 4-18-4 1-10-3 0-1 2022-23 13-11-1 6-10-0 0-0 2023-24 7-16-2 3-12-1 0-0 2024-25 8-17 6-10 0-0 2025-26 4-18-3 4-10-2 0-0 Totals 36-80-10 20-52-6 0-1

Doug Byrnes is in his 28th year as the head gymnastics coach at Hamline in 2026-27, taking over the program before the 1999-2000 season. In his head coaching career, the Pipers have earned 34 All-America honors. The most recent HU gymnast to earn the award was Danielle Jaworski (floor exercise) in 2023. The Pipers also had back-to-back NCGA Floor Exercise champions during the 2013 and 2014 seasons in gymnasts Courtney Benson and Bria Blakely. In addition, Benson was an NCAA Woman of the Year semifinalist and the NCGA Senior Athlete of the Year. The Pipers have accumulated seven individual national champions under Byrnes' leadership. In 2018, Byrnes was named both WIAC and NCGA Coach of the Year, just the second Piper coach of any program to ever win the national honor. He earned the award for his guidance of a team that finished third in the WIAC meet and fourth nationally with a team-record score of 190.000. Byrnes is a three-time WIAC Gymnastics Coach of the Year recipient (2005, 2007, 2018).  He began his career with Hamline in 1996 as an assistant coach and took over as head coach at the start of the 1999-2000 season. That year, the Pipers went on to win their first NCGA National Championship and produced their first all-around champion in Lindsay Odom. Byrnes would coach Hamline's second consecutive all-around, and uneven bars champion Melissa Stanton in 2001. During a coaching career that has included over 20 years in the collegiate ranks, 20 years of USA gymnastics, and three years of high school, he has had the opportunity to work with many USAG regional and national qualifiers, high school state meet participants, and collegiate gymnasts and champions around the country.   Placing priority on teaching new skills and improving the gymnastics of his athletes, his leadership is crucial to achieving a successful season. In addition to the Piper team, he directs and coaches for the Spirit Gymnastics club, which instructs recreational classes through USAG competitive level gymnastics.   He holds a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and practiced structural engineering for eight years prior to taking over as head coach. Outside the gym, Byrnes is an avid outdoor enthusiast and continues his passionate and more often, painful, pursuit of rugby.

Elizabeth Valley is a former All-American and MIAC Defensive Player of the Year, from her playing career at Hamline University. She graduated with a major in Exercise Science. After coaching at Forest Lake High School, she returned to Hamline as an assistant coach. Elizabeth is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, with the goal of working in Cardiac Rehabilitation as a Clinical Exercise Therapist. 

Ted Cheesebrough begins his fifth season with the Pipers as assistant men's hockey coach in 2025-26. Cheesebrough arrived at Hamline with head coach Shane Wagner in 2021, following 20 seasons coaching Minnesota High School hockey with Henry Sibley, Centennial, and St Paul United. Cheesebrough’s teams amassed a record of 263-237-32. He led his teams to three section championships, three state tournament berths, and five section finals. This led to Cheesebrough being named section coach of the year on three occasions.  Cheesebrough currently serves as an assistant coach for the Jamaican Men’s National Team, where he works alongside NHL veterans Chris Stewart and Jamie Huscroft. Ted also spent five seasons in the extreme sports world with Red Bull Crashed Ice, first competing as an athlete, and then serving as a coach and mentor to the amateur American Crashed Ice skaters.   Cheesebrough is Assistant General Counsel for U.S. Bank, a Fortune 150 company and the fifth-largest bank in the United States. Ted and his wife Carle live in Mendota Heights with their four hockey-playing children, Charlie, Mia, Cole, and Dolly.