South Dakota coaches, AD set to be honored at national convention in Iowa

Apr. 28—CORALVILLE, Iowa. — Ten coaches and an athletic director from South Dakota are set to receive honors at the 2026 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Convention, which runs June 29 through July 1 at the Coralville Hotel and Conference Center.

Jason Olson, of Rapid City Stevens, and Jim Sorenson, of Beresford, are South Dakota's inductees into the NHSACA Hall of Fame, and the ceremony is scheduled for June 30.

Additionally, eight coaches and an athletic director have been chosen as South Dakota's coach of the year finalists.

Here are South Dakota's national coach of the year finalists:

Raasch has been a boys basketball coach in South Dakota for 40 years, coaching 10 years apiece at Alpena and Webster, 16 at Langford and the past four in his hometown of Castlewood. He has guided 13 teams to state Class B boys basketball tournaments, including the 2025 state championship. Raasch is the longest active-tenured boys basketball coach in the state and is third overall all-time in wins with a career record of 643-265.

King has coached for 23 years, including Sioux Valley's competitive cheer squad the past 19 years. During that time, the Cossacks have won every state Class A cheer championship in the sport's 19-year history as a sanctioned sport by the South Dakota High School Activities Association.

The Webster native has spent the past 30 years coaching volleyball at Harrisburg, where her teams have produced a 561-74 record and seven state titles — one in Class A and six in AA. The Tigers won their fourth-straight state Class AA title last fall. Even though Harrisburg's state-record 87-match winning streak ended with losses to nationally-ranked teams in a tournament in Las Vegas, the Tigers still haven't lost to a South Dakota foe since September of 2022.

Thoreson has spent the past 31 years as an assistant coach for cross country and the past 23 years as an assistant track and field coach for both boys and girls at Brandon Valley. With his help, the Lynx have produced five state championship and 13 state runner-up teams across the two sports.

Jarovski is currently in his 28th year of coaching track and field at Lincoln. He served as an assistant for eight years before becoming the Patriots' head boys and girls coach the past 20 years. He has guided the Lincoln boys teams to eight Class AA state titles and the girls to five Class AA state titles.

Vander Leest has coached Sioux Falls Christian's boys and girls cross country teams since 2014 and the school's boys and girls track and field teams since 2017. He has led the Chargers to an unprecedented run of success that has included the past four state Class A titles in girls track and cross country, along with boys track.

Fredenburg began his coaching career at Sioux Falls Roosevelt and served as an assistant on teams that captured three Class 11AA state championships. He was hired as the head coach at Lincoln and has led the Patriots for the past nine years. After starting 4-15 the first two years, Lincoln has compiled a 60-18 record with two Class 11AAA state championships (2023 and 2024), plus a runner-up finish in 2025.