RAPID CITY - Rapid City Stevens' Kramer Johnson always envisioned ending his wrestling career in style. After winning both an individual and team South Dakota Class A wrestling title last weekend in Aberdeen, the senior 140-pounder did just that.

"I think this was always the way I kind of pictured going out," Johnson said. "Going out with a win and going out with a state tournament championship is exciting. But I kind of always envisioned myself winning the state tournament."

For that win, Johnson has been named the Rapid City Journal Athlete of the Week.

But it was the vision of something else entirely that drove Johnson to the biggest win of his career.

"I just remember looking up last year on the board and seeing my name next to that (No. 2)," Johnson said of losing the 140-pound title last season. "I thought about that every day, how I didn't want to feel that again."

It took a strong effort to get through a field that his coach felt was as tough as pretty much any other in the tournament.

"I think he had the hardest path out of a lot of the weight classes," Moser said. "He had to beat (Sheldon) Larsen from Sturgis and (Shane) Larsen from Watertown. Then he had (Lyman) Mahaffy from Belle Fourche in the finals. You look at that and you just kind of go, 'Holy cow.' And he had to do that in regions and then turn right around and do it again at state. A lot of times you don't see that, where a kid follows through from one week to the next."

Not one for self-promotion, Johnson credits much of his success to his teammates and their dedication to the sport.

"Wrestling is an individual sport, sure," Johnson said. "I think for a lot of our team it was more important to win that team championship than it was to win an individual title. It's an individual sport but we've always been taught that it's team first."

That team-first dedication was a main component in Johnson's title.

"I owe a lot of credit to my teammates, of course," Johnson said. "We have one of the best rooms in the state to practice in, so I owe a lot of it to my teammates."

Moser knows that plenty of the credit goes to Johnson as well.

"He's a very mentally tough competitor," Moser said. "He's always felt that he controlled his own destiny, and he went out and did it this weekend. I'm just so proud of him that he got to go out as a state champ."

Johnson's huge weekend at Aberdeen was made all the sweeter with a special fan sitting in the stands cheering him on.

Kramer's older brother, Nick, just returned from Army duty in Afghanistan and was one of the first people on the mat to congratulate his younger brother.

"He was in Afghanistan last year and didn't get to come," Johnson said of his older brother. "It was great to have him here this year. Both of my older brothers (Nick and Michael) were giving me pep talks all weekend. That's something they've both done my entire career."

And now that that career is over, Johnson has some time to reflect on just what a high note he got to leave on. He doesn't plan on wrestling in college.

"It hasn't really sunk in," Johnson said. "I knew it was all coming to an end this weekend, but the end of the season happened pretty fast. It all kind of snuck up on me."

Don't expect Johnson to struggle with life after wrestling, either.

"It's time to move on, but I'll still be around the sport in some way," Johnson said. He plans on going to college in Arizona after graduation and says he would like to help out with a high school program there if he can.

"It's sad," he said of the end of his wrestling career. "But there will be other good experiences and other accomplishments I'll encounter throughout my lifetime."

Contact Duffy at 394-8429 or at padraic.duffy@rapidcityjournal.com