By Matt Gade

605 Sports

BOX ELDER — On Sept. 10, the Douglas Patriots had scheduled their annual team picture day,  but if one were to look, they would notice one key figure was missing from those team photos.

Head coach Sarah Tucker.

That’s because just minutes prior, Tucker felt a sharp pain in her chest. One she thought was heartburn.

But instead turned out to be Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection with broken heart syndrome. Or as coach Tucker called it, “a full-on heart attack.”

Tucker said she was in her car on her way to Douglas High School for that Wednesday practice, not expecting to get much actual practice in because of the team’s photo day, when she felt the strong pain in her chest while driving.

She met with her assistant coach, Mike Clark, who decided to take her blood pressure.

“I made it to the school and went into the nurse's office, and Coach Clark actually took my blood pressure, and it kept reading ‘error,’ and then it just finally, when it did go through, it was super high,” Tucker said. “So we went down to urgent care, and they hooked me up to an EKG machine, and that's when they were like, No, we need to bus you to the hospital.”

Tucker called her sister while Clark helped to get her out of the school.

“We got a new Urgent Care here in Box Elder recently, and I was like, ‘We better go.’ And she's kind of like, ‘No.’ Then finally, she goes, ‘Let's go out the back,’” Clark said. “It was about 3:08, we get out of school at 3:10, but we were able to get out. 

“I'm like, ‘Where's your car?’ So we tried to get to her car. But luckily, her sister pulled up. I was just gonna drive her. We weren’t waiting for anybody. But, as that happened, her husband, her sister, pulled up and then took her, which was, honestly, good that it all worked out the way it did, because if she hadn't gotten to urgent care, she wouldn't have got the ambulance ride, and the ambulance ride got her right into the ER.”

For the next five days, Tucker was in the hospital, and Clark stepped into the interim role as head coach. A role not out of Clark’s wheelhouse, as he is the head girls’ basketball coach and an assistant coach on the track team.

While at the hospital, Tucker said the thought of a heart attack never crossed her mind.

“It was weird. We went into the ER, and they asked, ‘Do you have any history or family history with heart issues and everything?’ Then they had to go through my wrists all the way up through the heart, and then that's when they saw that the artery had torn a little bit and caused a heart attack itself,” said the 42-year-old Tucker. “I’m just really glad that I listened to my symptoms, because honestly, I thought it was just heartburn, just indigestion, and obviously it was not.”

Tucker said having her daughter, Kaylee Lancial, a freshman at Black Hills State, coming home for a week after she got out of the hospital was very beneficial for her mindset.

The Douglas Patriots volleyball team’s season continued on with the Rapid City Invite as their next slate of matches following Tucker’s heart attack.

The Patriots would go 3-3 during the two-day tournament led by Clark, who is still coaching the JV squad’s matches, too.

Douglas coach Mike Clark talks with Lexi Byrd (16) during a match against Sturgis on Oct. 2. Following Tucker's heart attack, Clark assumed the interim head coaching duties. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

“This is her team,” Clark said. “I just want to do what she wants. That's all. This is her program, and we got some great kids, so just easy shoes to fill. I wasn't going to go in and change anything that we were doing.”

For the next couple of weeks, Tucker said she had to take it easy and rest and was told to avoid stress as much as possible. Which meant she wasn’t talking to her players, but rather communicating with her team through Clark. 

Then on Sept. 27, Tucker made her first return to a Douglas volleyball match as she watched the Patriots take on Mahpiya Luta at home that Saturday.

“(The news) definitely was a shock, just because she's always been there for us,” Douglas junior  Emma Odegard said. “Hearing that she was struggling with that, it was definitely a big shock to us. It was definitely weird not having her there.

“It was really weird. Just not, like, not hearing from her, because she does so much for our program, like she holds it all together. And so like any questions we had or anything, it was like, it was just hard. We had practices and stuff, but you're just always like, ‘I wonder how she's doing. I wonder how everything is,’ and we just, we don't know. So once we started hearing from her, I feel like that kind of gave us a lot of relief. Just knowing she's good and everything's okay.”

Douglas head coach Sarah Tucker, left, watches the Patriots during warmups as they take on Tea as part of quadrangular on Saturday at Spearfish High School. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

During that time, not getting to see or talk to her players, Tucker said, was emotionally as painful as the heart attack itself.

“It was hard, because these girls are my babies,” said Tucker, who also coaches the Black Hills Juniors club volleyball team. “You see them six days a week. They're my kids, and then to just have my whole life just stop right then and there, has been really tough. 

“Some of these kids I've had in club, too. We were together every day during the summer. And so for my emotional well-being, I felt like I needed to get back into the gym just to be around them again and show my face and to see that. Because you go from 100% to nothing in a day. And it was just bonkers.”

Clark said seeing Tucker back in the Patriots gym that Saturday was great to see, but was also nervous because it was the quietest he’d seen Tucker before, so he wasn’t sure if things were going well or not. After the match, he found out Tucker’s rehab was going well.

Then on Oct. 2, the Patriots were again at home, this time against Sturgis, with Tucker back in the stands and a bit more vocal in celebrating and watching the Patriots play, which Tucker said she had to be conscious of not getting too worked up.

While not yet cleared to coach, Sarah Tucker reacts to a point by the Douglas Patriots during a match against Sturgis on Oct. 2 in Box Elder. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

On Friday, Oct. 3, Tucker had another follow-up where the doctors said they’ve seen significant improvement in her heart’s condition. 

Enough progress that Tucker could return to coaching as long as she is conscious of her heart rate, limits stress, and doesn’t get too worked up.

On Saturday, Tucker found herself back on the Patriots’ bench for the first time since that Sept. 10 heart attack, serving as an assistant to coach Clark while competing in a quadrangular at Spearfish High School.

Tucker, who will return to practice on Monday, said she and Clark will serve as co-head coaches to help limit the stress levels while she is still recovering. 

Tucker said she went from an initial 10 different medications down to four, and her broken heart syndrome is almost entirely resolved, while she will have to continue cardiac rehab for the next few months.

“If it were up to me, I'd be back full-blown and wouldn't have to do any of this. But I also don't want to have any setbacks that would push me back even further than what I am,” Tucker said. “And our AD has been super great about it. Josh (Haaland) has been really helpful, and we're all on the same page that we just want to ease back into it. 

I certainly don't want anything to happen in front of the girls. We're doing what we can for right now. And coach Clark has been super helpful. We got a lot of the same views on everything. So that works out really well. Just glad I was able to have my assistants to be able to kind of take over, and such a good support system. The parents have been amazing too.”

With her ties to the Black Hills Juniors club volleyball team, Tucker said she feels loved by how many of those players on other high school teams throughout the region have reached out to show support and wish her well.

The Patriots' next match will be Thursday as they travel to Belle Fourche for a 6 p.m. contest.

Douglas head coach Sarah Tucker, center, celebrates with players during a player rotation during the Patriots' match against Tea as part of quadrangular on Saturday at Spearfish High School. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)