Jesse Geleynse

All the way from a state where agriculture means apples, carrots and blueberries, Jesse Geleynse is joining the staff at the Le Mars Daily Sentinel as co-sports editor.

Geleynse grew up playing baseball and soccer in Mount Vernon, Wash., about an hour north of Seattle.

As a kid, he visited northwest Iowa to see relatives about a half dozen times.

"I always remembered Le Mars because it's a weird name, but I never thought I'd end up here," he said.

Then again, Geleynse didn't imagine himself as a journalist, either.

"I kind of stumbled into it backwards," he laughed.

Although a high school teacher encouraged him to go into journalism, Geleynse had his sights set on law school after a junior year class trip to Washington D.C.

But college political science classes did more to lull him to sleep than anything, so he decided to pursue broadcasting. He happened to take a class in media writing, and enjoyed the creativity it offered.

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His career in journalism was born.

In college, Geleynse (pronounced guh-LEN-zee) wrote for the Washington State University (WSU) "Daily Evergreen." After graduating in 2007, he started as a sports clerk at "The Daily Herald" in Everett, Wash.

Eventually the journalist hopes to find his way onto television.

"Isn't that what every West Coast reporter wants?" Geleynse grinned. "I'd like to be on Baseball Tonight with ESPN."

Maybe he'll become the next Tim Kurkjian, Baseball Tonight reporter and senior writer for "ESPN: The Magazine."

For now, Geleynse is learning the difference between a Jayhawk and a Blackhawk and getting to know the coaches, players and fans of Plymouth County area athletics.

He'll share the Daily Sentinel position with current co-sports editor Bethany Kroeze.

Geleynse is looking forward to all the sporting events, but his favorite might be baseball. He played college ball for a year at George Fox University in Oregon.

He also spent his senior year at WSU covering the university's men's basketball team, which made its way to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years. Geleynse covered their play in the Pac-10 tourney at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

And on his way back stopped by Peoria, Ariz. to catch the Seattle Mariners' spring training.

Cross country running, well, he can't quite wrap his mind around that sport after all these years, but he's willing to give it a try -- maybe even run in an open race and then write about it in his column.

He's up for the adventure.

"When I cover sports," Geleynse said, "it never feels like work."