Gymnastics coach Sherri Johnson honored for fourth time as South Dakota coach of the year

May 8—MITCHELL — The South Dakota High School Coaches Association announced its coaches of the year for the 2025-26 winter season.

The winners will be honored at the SDHSCA awards banquet at 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 19, at the Mitchell High School Performing Arts Center.

Estelline/Hendricks coach Sherri Johnson was awarded as state gymnastics coach of the year. Johnson, who also won the award in 1994 when she coached Mitchell, and again in 2019 and 2023, led the Redhawks to their fourth consecutive Class A state team title in 2026. The Redhawks also combined to win four of the five individual state titles. Other nominees for the award included Harrisburg's Callie Aylward, Brookings' Rachelle Engbrecht and Britton-Hecla's Angela Grupe.

Tim Buddenhagen of Huron is the state boys basketball coach of the year. Buddenhagen led the Huron boys basketball team to its first state championship in 20 years. It was Buddenhagen's third state championship as a basketball coach in his 39-year career with the Tigers. He was also state boys basketball coach of the year in 2004. Other nominees for the award included Freeman's Lance Friesen, West Central's Dave Hollenbeck and Wall's Ryan Kjerstad.

Matthew Rama of Mahpiya Luta won the girls' basketball coach of the year award for the second year in a row. In his eighth season with Mahpiya Luta, Rama led his team to a second consecutive Class A state runner-up finish. He has also had seven all-state players and five players sign to play college basketball from the 2025-26 team alone. Mahpiya Luta has qualified for the Class A state tournament in six of the last seven seasons and has won six consecutive titles at the Lakota Nation Invitational. Other nominees for the award included Kent Kolsrud from O'Gorman, Adam Quail from Lennox, and Tom Young from Ethan.

Joel Martin, of Spearfish, was named the state girls wrestling coach of the year. Martin has coached for 29 of his 32 seasons in Spearfish and is retiring at the end of this school year. At the state meet, Spearfish placed third as a girls team and six of their seven state qualifiers finished on the podium. Other nominees included Josh Blindert of McCook Central/Montrose, Dexter Gaikowski of Watertown, and Chris Waba of Madison.

Mike Abell, of Sturgis, was named the state boys wrestling coach of the year. In 11 years as head coach, Sturgis has won three state individual points titles and three state dual championships, sweeping both titles in 2026. Abell also won the state award in 2024. Other nominees for the honor included Darren Kriz of Bon Homme, Spencer Novotny of Winner, and Jeremy Swenson of Canton.