The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team recently completed its coaching staff with the hiring of new assistant Candace Blackerby and the promotion of bars coach Chris Bogantes to lead assistant.

Bogantes will resume his duties as the bars coach while also gaining the responsibilities of recruiting, arranging community service and daily activities for the team and choosing the team's apparel for meets.

"I'm excited to be coming back for my second year, so I kind of know what to expect Sept. 21, whereas last year it was my first time seeing them do their actual routine," Bogantes said. "I'm looking to push them to do things sooner this year and get the team prepared about a month sooner than we did last season."

Bogantes' experience in the field of gymnastics consists of time as an athlete and coach.

His athletic experience consists of 10 years of club gymnastics, during which he competed on six skill levels for a team in New Orleans.

He competed and won on all levels and earned opportunities to compete for a national championship in all of his four years of high school.

Bogantes grew up in New Orleans and followed in the footsteps of his parents and twin brother by attending Louisiana State University and receiving his bachelor's degree in history.

His previous coaching history includes a year at Texas Woman's University and a year at Legacy Elite Gymnastics.

His year and a half at Ball State University as the assistant coach included four months as the head coach due to the former coach's resignation.

Words of positivity and complete excitement were expressed by fifth-year coach Kristi Ewasko on the recent re-hiring of Bogantes.

"He comes with a lot of experience and knowledge from multiple level programs and he came with some really good references from established college coaches that I trust," Ewasko said. "I gave him a chance last year and he did great things for us, he works extremely hard, is always trying to bring ideas to the table of what's going to make us better and improve and new ways of training."

Bogantes has a calm attitude throughout the day whether it's a good or a not-so-good practice for the team.

"When you are working with young female athletes that is helpful for them to know in advance what they are getting out of you every day," Bogantes said. "I spend the rest of my day 8 a.m to 6 o'clock down in the office, but outside of here I work out a lot, run every day for about four miles then I go lift weights for about hour. I'm really into cooking, so I cook a lot of food at night and watch a whole lot of Netflix."

Ewasko added that the promotion from first assistant to second assistant was an easy one due to Bogantes' resume and the positive components he brought to the team last season.

Southeast's search to find a second assistant coach occurred after Sarah Shire Brown resigned from the position after a three-year tenure with the team and Bogantes accepted the promotional position.

Blackerby gained the duties as the balance beam coach and is alumni of the University of Oklahoma.

During her tenure at Oklahoma she received second-place accolades for her bars performance in the Big 12 championships.

"The staff has been more than welcoming. I already feel a deep personal bond between Chris and Kristi, they're just super fun, love life and they have a passion for gymnastics that I can reflect with," Blackerby said. "I'm excited to learn from both of them and excited to contribute to what we bring as a whole package to the gymnastics program."

Blackerby was described as energetic and passionate, but her willingness to learn as much as possible as soon as possible were just some of the many attributes that were quickly noticed by Ewasko.

"I think that her willingness to learn is very important to her and as she starts to develop herself as a coach, an assistant to an head coach and really knowing she can impact this program from the beginning," Ewasko said.