The last time Austin grad Anna Meyer represented Lyle-Pacelli, she was an eighth-grader on their basketball team. Now Meyer is taking the hike across 4th St NW from Austin back to Pacelli to take over as head coach of the Athletics.

Meyer, who played college basketball at Riverland Community College and Bemidji State University, led the Packers girls basketball team to a record of 11-15 overall as interim coach in 2016-2017 and she was an assistant coach on the Packer boys basketball team that took fourth in the Minnesota Class AAA State Tournament last season. Meyer also has stints as an assistant coach with Riverland and the Austin girls program.

Being around multiple coaches has given Meyer a lot of perspective and she’s ready to finally start her own program with LP.

“Being around different coaching styles is huge as a player and even more so as a coach. What I learned last year under (Austin boys head coach Kris) Fadness was irreplaceable,” Meyer said. “I really enjoyed working and coaching with Fads and his staff and you develop relationships with all of the players. It wasn’t easy to leave the boys program. I just felt something was really pulling me in this direction (towards LP).”

Meyer is taking over an LP team that won its first state title in program history last season. While much of the core of that team has graduated, including center Kristi Fett who will be playing in Minnesota State University, Meyer said she still has a team that can be competitive. LP will likely bring back key players Olivia Christianson and Abby Bollingberg.

Meyer had a chance to work with her new team for three weeks in July after accepting the head coaching job.

“I think the look we’ll have this year is going to be a little bit different, but there are a lot of positives of what the players still in the program bring,” Meyer said. “You can’t replace what Kristi brought to that team, but we’ll really be getting after it defensively and we’ll focus on the strengths of the players we have now.”

As Meyer prepares for the upcoming season, she’s excited to get the ball rolling with her very own program.

“It’s always great to coach with others, but I”m super excited to take my own program and do the things what I want to with it,” she said.