By Rich Winter

605 Sports

NEWELL — Having grown up on a ranch about an hour north of Newell, recently graduated Irrigator senior Kimberly Johnson has spent the majority of her young life around cattle and horses.

So, when she decided to give rodeo a try following her freshman year, the move seemed pretty natural, until she found herself qualified for the 2021 National High School Finals Rodeo in girls cutting. 

“I had never even been on a cutting horse before,” she said. “When I finished the short go-round that year I didn’t have grand expectations but then I looked at the final placings and I tied for third and fourth place. I was shocked to be able to represent South Dakota at the finals.”

Having gone big in her first season, Johnson entered her sophomore season with exceedingly high expectations. When the trip to the national finals eluded her Johnson shook off the moment, figuring she would learn from the moment and come back stronger the next season. 

She did come back stronger but her cutting horse, “Cotton” did not. 

“I really wanted to win the state competition and felt like I was ready,” she said. “My horse got hurt at state and we pulled out of the competition figuring it was not worth hurting my horse further.”

A challenging summer of not making the national finals was further complicated when Cotton unexpectedly passed away. Knowing she would never be able to ride the horse that took her to the national finals her freshman year hurt, Johnson had plenty of other things that needed tending.
 There is no way around it, Johnson and her family live in the boonies. During the school year she drives an hour to and from school and Johnson's nearest neighbor is 30 minutes away. 

“When I drive home from school there is 21 miles of highway, 26 miles of dirt roads and we have a six-mile driveway,” she said. 

The family cattle and equine ranch located north of Red Butte has the south fork of the Moreau River running through it with scenery some would call breathtaking. That ranch is also the proving ground where Johnson and her mother Rebecca are heavily involved in the equine part of the ranch. 

“I help my mom with a lot of the logistics like the breeding of horses and when to turn studs out,” she said. “All of our horses are registered through the American Quarter Horse Association. We used to have semen flown in for artificial insemination but have kind of gone away from that in recent years.”

Johnson said most of their horses are bred to be cutting horses or reined cow horses first. She noted some of those horses can go on to different disciplines but are first trained to be cattle horses. Serious about the family business Johnson started padding her resume at the age of nine. 

]“I am the current president of the South Dakota Quarter Horse Youth Association,” she said. “I’ve been on that board since the age of nine when I started as the secretary.”  

Next fall Johnson will be attending Mount Marty College in Yankton where she plans on playing volleyball and pursuing a double major in pre chiropractic and business. She plans on sticking with the family’s equine business but the pre chiropractic major is very personal. 

“I had a lot of chronic back pain while playing basketball as a freshman,” she said. “My only release from that pain was to see a chiropractor. I wanted to do something to help people feel good about themselves.” 

 Johnson is an athlete that has received multiple all-Little Moreau Conference nods and several honorable mention all-conference bids. The Newell girls volleyball team won 24 matches in 2022 and ‘23 but Johnson never played on a basketball or volleyball team that made the state tournament or even a So Dak 16. 

Many times athletes that aren’t seen on the big stage don’t get college opportunities but Johnson’s collegiate sports future changed at a summer volleyball camp. The camp held at Newell High School was hosted by Mount Marty and Johnson immediately latched onto one of the camp facilitators Jaycee Fischer. 

“I was able to visit with her a lot during that camp,” she said. “After the camp I emailed Mount Marty and tossed in Jaycee’s name and that is where the volleyball conversations started.”

During a four-year varsity career, Johnson said she has played every position but setter. Having taken a number of dual-credits Johnson is technically a sophomore before she ever steps foot on the Mount Marty campus. 

Johnson was the 2024 Newell High School valedictorian and finished her high school academic career with a 4.207 GPA. She noted that academics didn’t always come easy and it takes a lot of hard work and putting in the time. 

Involved in so many things, including the Future Farmers of America Organization and several other school activities, Johnson had to learn how to make every second of her day count.

“I really had to diversify my time management,” she said. “You just have to do one thing at a time, it doesn't matter what you are doing, you just have to be as effective with your time as possible.” 

While it sounds like Johnson has just rolled through the first 18 years of her life, there have been a few hiccups along the way.

“I took four years of Spanish in high school, with two of those years being college level,” she said. “The classes were extremely hard and I didn’t understand how to get on top of those classes. When I don’t do as well at something as I’d like to have done I go back and ask what little things I missed and then try to go back to the basics.” 

Johnson is heavily involved in the family's horse operation and plans to double-major in pre chiropractic and business at Mount Marty - Courtesy Photo

Prior to the start of the 2024 high school rodeo season Kimberly and her sister Kendra both got new cutting horses. Riding her new horse “Lexi”, Johnson finished third at the SDHSRF’s in the girls' cutting and earned a second trip to the national finals. It took about two months for horse and rider to get on the same page as the pair learned each other’s quirks and nuances. 

 “I’m actually going to be riding my sister's horse at nationals because Snooki has a little more gusto,” she said. 

Johnson remembers her first national finals experience as the event had a lot of energy and was awe inspiring. She also remembers being nervous and shaking the entire time she was competing. Her approach to the 2024 NHSFR that are being held in Rock Springs, Wyoming, July 14-20 will be a bit different than her first experience.

“I think I will enjoy it a little more,” she said. “This is my last big show until I graduate from college so I’m looking forward to the team dinners, the volleyball tournament and just taking in the entire experience.”