MITCHELL — Mitchell High School gymnastics coach Audra Rew is among the 2023 selections to the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the organization announced on Tuesday.
Earlier in 2023, Rew coached the Kernels to their eighth Class AA state gymnastics championship in her tenure, which has now spanned 17 seasons as head coach. She also coached seven seasons as an assistant coach for the Kernels earlier in her career.
Mitchell's other titles under Rew have come in 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2021, plus 22 individual state champions, all coming after Rew started a club program in Mitchell in 2003 to help foster the sport in the community from a young age. Mitchell has finished in the top-two positions in state meet team scoring for 10 consecutive seasons.
In 2018, Rew was recognized by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association as a national coach of the year in gymnastics and she is also a two-time state coach of the year in South Dakota (2007 and 2021). She was inducted into the state's gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2015.
A pair of other area coaches are also being recognized with longtime basketball coaches with Bill Marquardt, of Sioux Falls, and Joe Schlimgen, of Plankinton, entering the hall of fame as 2023 selections.
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The rest of the class includes Vermillion's Gary Culver (football), Pine Ridge's Lyle “Dusty” LeBeaux (basketball) and Baltic's Kurt Schultz (cross country).
This year’s class will be inducted at an awards luncheon held at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel Event Center in North Sioux City on Sunday, June 18.
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