30 years in the making, gymnastics coaches Sherri Johnson and Audra Rew share titles and Mitchell ties

Feb. 14—ABERDEEN — It was a pair of team titles, 30 years in the making for coaches Sherri Johnson and Audra Rew.

The coaches — Johnson for Estelline/Hendricks and Rew coaching Mitchell — led their teams to state gymnastics championships on Friday, Feb. 10 in Aberdeen at the South Dakota state gymnastics meet.

It brought their time as coaches for the Kernels full circle, as Johnson coached Mitchell for 10 years from 1990 to 2000, with Rew serving as her assistant for the last seven seasons. Now the two coaches each shared championship success in the same place at the same time, something they had been shooting for.

"As the season was going, I said to her, 'Sherri, you and I both, let's win a state title together,'" Rew said in Aberdeen. "It's a cool thing and I know a lot of people in Mitchell remember Sherri and Coach O."

The former Sherri Olson when she coached in Mitchell, Johnson led Mitchell to a pair of state runner-up finishes in 1993 and 1994, three Eastern South Dakota Conference championships, along with eight region championships. She was the state's gymnastics coach of the year in 1994 for Mitchell.

But that was an era with looser eligibility and roster rules for when gymnasts could start competition, something Rew remembers vividly. In each occasion, Rew said, the eventual state champions had club gymnastics "ringers" compete one meet before the state meet and then help those high school teams win a state title.

"Sioux Falls and Rapid City could add club gymnasts at the end of the year. And they'd beat everyone," Rew said. "Sherri was just missing out on those state titles."

The coaches joked they have come a long way since they were cleaning up pigeon poop so their Kernel gymnasts could practice in the former Woolworth's building at Main Street and Third Avenue.

"We would practice there in the summer and there wasn't air conditioning. It was awful," Johnson said. "

Johnson left Mitchell to get married to her husband, Gary, and moved to Hendricks, Minnesota. The family's gymnastics connections only grew stronger with three daughters and the construction of a large farm shed on the Johnson's property — The Barn — that serves as Estelline/Hendricks' practice and competition facility.

"We wanted to get a real gym going (in Mitchell), and Audra got it going," Johnson said of Rew's MEGA Gymnastics Center. "Mine wasn't quite to the extent of hers."

"No, it's amazing," Rew responded to Johnson about The Barn.

Each head coach has a second generation of coaches on their staff. Rew's daughter, Amelia Endres, is the Kernels' assistant and Johnson's daughter, Greta, is a Redhawk assistant. Both daughters were accomplished gymnasts, with Greta Johnson frequently qualifying for the Minnesota state meet and Endres etching her spot in Kernel lore with seven individual state titles for Mitchell and sweeping all five in 2009.

"We always said that we needed to raise our own gymnasts," Rew joked.

Johnson remembers Endres hanging around the gymnastics gym. It was part of the deal after Johnson had pleaded for Rew to come be her assistant coach.

"Amelia would come to practice and I'd say, "Go over to that vault mat and don't talk to me.'" Rew recalled saying to her daughter. "So bars was always her worst event because she was little and we wouldn't let her on the bars because we only had one set of bars. ... She would just imitate the big girls and sit on the vault mat for two hours."

"But then she kept working at it and then she became the stud gymnast," Johnson added.

The Johnsons are not only busy with gymnastics. Like her older sisters, Sadie, participates in multiple sports, including as a guard on the Redhawks' basketball team and qualified for the 2022 Class B state golf tournament. At the state gymnastics meet, Sadie was the star for the Redhawks, winning three event titles, including the all-around crown, and powering the Redhawks' team victory.

This was the fifth year of the Estelline/Hendricks' co-op for gymnastics, which now spans all sports. The two towns are 28 miles apart, with Hendricks nestled just over the South Dakota-Minnesota state line, and Estelline located between Brookings and Watertown.

"I think gymnastics, and golf as well, was a huge draw for Hendricks to be involved in the co-op. Estelline needed someone and we needed someone too," Johnson said. "Estelline had a few kids going to the Clear Lake club for gymnastics, so it made sense for them. ... We have the gymnastics facility and it's been great for both communities. It offers Estelline something they've never had before and wouldn't have without this partnership and there are so many great opportunities and friendships formed between the two communities. Now, this (state title) is just going to be another feather in the hat."

Johnson said this Redhawks state title team reminded her of the first close call for Mitchell in the state meet in 1993, when the Kernels took second with a then-school record score of 143.078.

"I just remember adding up the numbers before the meet and telling the girls, 'We can do this,'" Johnson said. "This year really had the same feeling because I was saying the same thing."