The inner-workings of a juggernaut⚙️
interview with Pitt State Head Coach Kyle Rutledge & NAIA postseason recap
The Lead Pack is moving to a brand new day with a brand new time! Instead of typically being Friday at random times during the day, new editions of the best track & field/cross country newsletter based out of Northeast Kansas will be in your inbox on Tuesday at 10! Oddly, this one is coming to you just after 10am on Thursday, but disregard that! Enjoy!
Embrace the target🎯
As a coach, there are typically one of two ways to respond after winning a national title. From the moment that the trophy is hoisted into the air, the red target is spray-painted onto your back. You and your program are the ones to beat, and everyone else is going to spend the next year prepping for howto take you down. For some, the added pressure and expectations would be an unwanted factor that does nothing but incite nerves throughout the program. For the rest, the new status brings a newfound swagger and confidence that the program embraces, ultimately playing into the role of ‘King/Queen of the Court’.
After winning an outdoor national title last spring, Kyle Rutledge and the Pittsburg State Gorillas have lived up to the expectations so far this indoor season, and you’d be a fool to think they’re slowing down.
After watching Pittsburg State simply wreak havoc on DII in a multitude of ways, I had to get a glimpse of the inner-workings or ‘nuts and bolts’ of the program’s success and how they have seemingly improved despite losing key athletes to graduation. Luckily for me, Coach Rutledge was able to find some time to answer a few questions, despite a full weekend of both attending and hosting meets. Here’s a look inside of one of the best track & field programs in the country.
You’ve been at Pittsburg State since the summer of 2012, and have been an integral part of the program, as the program has won 24 MIAA titles, and a trio of national championships. After being a part of so much success while working with the legendary Russ Jewett, how has the transition been to becoming head coach of such an accomplished program?
I am very fortunate and grateful to Coach Jewett for what he me back in 2012 when I was still a young coach. He took a chance on a young man that was eager to make his mark but still had a lot to learn about coaching. When I was hired I knew I had to learn quickly and needed to prove to myself that I could do this job at a high level. There is pressure no matter what job you take but for me as a coach, no one could put more pressure on me than myself. Coach Jewett was a great teacher of how to run a program and manage athletes. He also had a great deal of knowledge on how to build a successful program and how to build a tradition. I was also very fortunate to learn from my father (Tom Rutledge) at Missouri Southern on how to recruit and to have athletes buy into a program. So, coming in I had previous knowledge of what I was getting into and of the demands of the program. Coach Jewett was extremely patient with me and allowed me to learn on my own. I always knew I wanted to be a Head Coach of a program and wanted to be the best I could be. I took every opportunity to learn from him and my father on how to manage a program and build a successful program. When the time came, the transition was seamless due to all the years I was able to learn and grow from him as well as my father. There will always be challenges no matter where you are but what Coach Jewett taught me, I am forever grateful. He made the transition very easy but that was because of all the work we did to get to this point.
As an athlete at Missouri Southern, you had three seasons with All-American honors. How has your success as an athlete helped you as a coach?
Being an athlete at Missouri Southern was a great experience, but what helped me the most is being an athlete for my father. He taught me how to work hard, to never give up and he challenged me to be better every day. He was a great motivator and never allowed me or anyone to make excuses on why we couldn’t do something. My father made us believe we could do anything as long as we put the work in. He was hard on us but we all knew that he cared about us as a person and he did not want to see us fail. My father was a great teacher of life and wanted us to be great people. This has helped me to teach my athletes how to work hard for something you want, there are going to be hard days and there are days we will question if we can do it. If we continue to move forward and not give up then we will be successful. Teaching my athletes how to overcome and continue the pursuit of perfection is something that makes me the coach I am. My athletes know I care about them as people first and I want them to be a better person and have confidence within themselves, that they can do anything when they leave here. That is what I learned from my time at Missouri Southern under my father.
From the outside looking in, it appears that Pittsburg State has developed both a winning and team-friendly culture. Is there anything specific that you can point to that has helped build such a positive culture?
Building a positive culture comes from a team understanding that we are all working towards a common goal. That is to be the best we can be and to make others around us the best they can be. This come from: accountability, respect and trust. We have to hold each other accountable every day to give our very best, to do things the right way. No one person is above the program, including the coaches. Respect each other and the program, this is showing up on time with the attitude of getting better each day and respecting we are all here for one common goal. We also need to respect those that have come before us that have put this program where it is today. We honor them and respect them by continuing the tradition through our work ethic. Finally, we trust each other that we are going to be accountable. Track has a perception of an individual sport, yes it is based on individual accolades but we look at track as an individual sport with a team concept and everyone needs to do their job for the team to be successful. Everyone needs to be rowing the boat in the same direction to help this team get to where it needs to be. A culture is hard to develop but easily lost if you don’t have core values.
A lot of coaches have a set of core values or morals that they base their coaching off of. Do you have anything similar to that that you try and instill in your athletes?
I believe I answered this in the previous question but yes our core values is a big reason why our team is successful. These values have been built from all the coaches and athletes that have come before us. Our core values are: accountability, trust, respect and commitment to each other. There is no secret to what we do, we just approach it maybe a little differently than most and we recruit athletes that have the same beliefs. We understand as a program that this is a team and we are all striving for a common goal, starting with the coaches.
Why did you become a coach? Is it something you had been planning on for a while, or were you influenced to follow this route during your time as an athlete?
In college, I did not know what I wanted to do. I got a Business Administration degree and thought I wanted to work in the business world, but I am extremely competitive and that I could never get away from. So, the only thing that fueled that competitive drive was coaching. I love the challenge and the chase of perfection, nothing can replace that feeling of when things work out. Coaching is a roller coaster, when it is great it is great but when things are bad it is tough. The constant drive of helping someone chase a dream of being on top is what gets you out of bed and excited to go to work. Coaching is an addiction, when you watch your athlete achieve a goal that you helped get there is the best feeling in the world. Just knowing you had a small part in that athletes success is addictive. It also goes the other way, when things don’t work out than you feel that disappointment as well. This is what makes coaching great though. I ultimately became a coach because I love being around my athletes and sharing in their experience and sharing in the journey. There is no other job where you get to have an effect on someone’s life and helping them achieve a dream.
Obviously, Russ Jewett had one of the most decorated careers that a coach could have in their career. He was named MIAA coach of the year forty-six separate times, and led his teams to fifty-two MIAA titles, and of course two team national titles. You had the chance to spend a large portion of your coaching career coaching with him. What were some of the most valuable things you learned from your time under Russ Jewett?
What I learned from Coach Jewett is how to build a balanced program to always be in the hunt to win a team championship. He taught me how to build a program, how to manage people and how build a tradition. Coach Jewett and my father are very similar but also different on how they coached. I am very fortunate to have learned from both, Coach Jewett is very smart on how to put their athletes in the right position to be successful and how to position a team. My father was very good at getting the most out of his athletes and motivating them believe they could do anything. What I learned the most from Coach Jewett is how to manage people, both athletes and a staff. I still have a lot to learn and I am very fortunate to still have them around.
I know you’ve already done what most coaches dream of, but what other goals for the program do you have that you haven't yet reached? To all aspiring coaches, what is the most important piece of advice they should take with them moving forward?
No matter the success a person has, they can always be better. My goals are always to be better than I was the year before. Of course the goal is always to win but that is hard, there are a lot of great teams and everyone is striving for the same thing. I would be lying if I didn’t say I want to win a National title in both men and women. Our goal every year is to be in the conversation and when the stars align that is when it becomes a special year. The beauty of coaching is, every year you have a new team and new challenges. So you have to learn how to be successful with this team and how to navigate the challenges. There has never been a perfect year and there will never be a perfect year. What I have to do is improve myself as a coach, as a leader and as a mentor to my athletes. My advice to anyone is to never stop growing, never stop learning and always stick to your beliefs. This profession will break you if you let it but if you stick to what you believe in and love what you do. Then it will always work out and you will have a team that believes in you.
What are some of the key things you look for when recruiting an athlete? What type of high school success do you see as mandatory to excel in the DII track and field environment?
When we recruit we look first for their marks, and that is the beauty of track and field is that the marks don’t lie. But as a Division II program, we have to find the athletes that have the potential. Here, many of our athletes are multi sport athletes and come from the Midwest. So we look for kids that have raw ability but more importantly they have the desire to be great. We look for athletes who have character, are team oriented and have competed well when it counts. I look for athletes that can perform under pressure and have great work ethic. I look for athletes, kids that have the ability but need time to develop. We do a lot of work on finding out what type of athlete we are recruiting and this is from talking to their coaches, other coaches that know them and getting to know them personally. Everything has to fit because we have to look at if they are the right fit for our program. It goes deeper than just numbers, they have to have the right mentality.
Saint Mary Sweep🧹
The depth of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference was on full display a few weekends back at the 2023 edition of the indoor championships. For the fourth straight year, the meet took place at the Heskett Center at Wichita State. The titles gives it away, but the Spires swept the team titles, each not too far from two-hundred points. Additionally, Kansas Wesleyan, Friends and Ottawa all made the podium as well, each ending their team totals in the triple digits.
Sprints/Hurdles
I don’t if any of you are bettors, but I’d keep this information handy when Vegas drops odds for the future KCAC track & field championships. In both the women’s 60m and 200m, Friends’ Jaylen Knight won both in 7.75 and 25.33, her first ever conference titles. For the men, Ottawa’s Jaylan Washington swept the 60m and 200m, with times of 6.75 and 22.12. All four times were national qualifying marks, so I’d say the odds of a Jaylan/Jaylen winning in the future are mighty high.
In the women’s 400m, Ottawa’s JayOnna Perry won gold in 58.93, her first KCAC title on the track. The men’s 400m saw Friends’ Dectrick Edwards win his first KCAC title, notching the only sub-fifty time of the meet.
But don’t forget the hurdles! It was a Falcon sweep, with Keiana Newman and Trystan Wright winning the women’s and men’s titles in 8.89 and 8.58.
Mid-Distance & Distance
You may see the 600m as a sprint, or you might call the 1k a distance event, but at least we can all agree that the 800m is pure mid-distance. In what ended up being a dominant mid-distance and distance showing from St. Mary, Maddy Walter-Sherett was the conference champion over both 800m and 1k, winning in 2:25.52 and 3:03.52. The Spires’ other phenom, Alyssa Armendariz, also made her presence known at the Heskett Center, winning the Mile, 3k, and 5k in 5:06.80, 10:18.70, and 18:07.78.
On the men’s side, the 800m saw freshman Will Griffith take down a talented field, winning in 1:57.82, a shiny new PR! What makes that more impressive is that Griffith hadn’t dipped under the two-minute barrier yet this season! In the 1k, Liam Neidig edged out second-place for the win by a quarter of a second, adding his first individual conference title to his name. In the Mile, a familiar face of the KCAC Emad Bashir-Mohammed won in 4:25.84, as the Spires went 1-4. Bashir-Mohammed doubled down and won the 3k as well, as the Spires this time went 1-3-4. However, the 5k title went to another Spire, Brendan Erwin, who won his second individual conference title in 15:03.15.
Relays
In the finale of every great track meet is the 4x400m relay, as the quartet of Kentayshija Pruitt, Rachel Booker, Meliah Hanna, and Kyah Hill led Southwestern to a KCAC title in 4:05.65. The men of Friends won the 4x400m as well, with Wright, Edwards, Cooper Clawson and Blake Balch running 3:24.66 for gold. In the 4x800m, St. Mary won by five seconds, as Walter-Sherrett, Riley Fisher, Carlie Gregg, and Emilia Diaz came together to distance themselves from the field, winning in 10:02.34. The men’s 4x800m title went to the Coyotes of Kansas Wesleyan, as Griffith, Julian Avila, Giovanni Rios, and Ty Davidson were the only squad to run under eight minutes in 7:59.75. The Distance Medley Relay titles both went to Tabor, as Brooke Wiebe, Sydnee Gardner, Sonya Zimmerman and Danielle Allison combined for a 13:02.67 in their victory, as Dillon Callaway, Brandon Geyer, Pierce Klaassen and Alan Catana completed the Bluejay sweep, running 10:35.86.
Jumps
In the high jump, JayOnna Perry added to her tally, winning her second conference title of the weekend, clearing 5-4.5 to win by two inches. Vance Shewey of Tabor won the men’s high jump, clearing 6-9.75, also winning by over two inches. In the horizontal jumps, Bethel’s Myiah Logue swept the long and triple jump, clearing 16-7.25 and 37-9.5. The men’s long jump title went to Eryk Kyser, who won his third straight KCAC long jump title. Kyser leaped 23-6.75, the only man past twenty-three feet. Ottawa’s Mario Cheatem won the triple jump, jumping 46-11 and just nearly missing entering the 47’s.
Pole Vault
Brynna Halata of Friends won by clearing 10-8.75, which marked a half-foot victory, as teammate Brian Sweney did in fact make it a Falcon sweep, as he cleared 14-1.25 to win by two inches.
Throws
In the women’s shot put, Ottawa’s Laurel Barber won by over two feet, with her winning mark of 43-11.75 coming on her first throw. The men’s shot put went to Kansas Wesleyan’s Cole Parker, who led the Coyotes to a 1-2-3 sweep. Parker’s throw of 51-7.25 came on his final throw of competition, one of his three throws over fifteen meters. The men’s weight throw title went to Zach Johnson of Tabor, who’s 55-7.75 got in the way of another potential KWU throwing sweep.
Kansas holds their own in the HOA🏆
In the Heart of America Athletic Conference, Kansas schools are outnumbered 11-3 by programs from Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Yet, they continually hold their own and more often than not, come out on top with both team and individual titles.
Continuing her success she’s seen this indoor campaign, MidAmerica Nazarene’s Nikiwe Mongwe won the 60m by over a tenth of a second, dropping an A Standard time of 7.65 to collect the ten points. Mongwe also won the 200m, running another A Standard of 24.34 to win by half of a second. The only person standing in between Mongwe and a complete sweep of the sprints was Benedictine’s Alison Ambuul, who dropped a 57.63 to rain on Mongwe’s parade.
In the 1000m, Magdalena Burdova won another conference title for the Pioneers, running a PR 3:03.74 to solidify yet another ten points for her team. In the Mile, Caroline Cobo of Benedictine led the way for a 1-2-3 Raven finish, running 5:16.99 to hang on for gold. In the 4x800m, Benedictine led three squads to A Standard, while running 9:26.97, the sixth fastest time in the NAIA.
In the long jump, All-American Carly Lindenmeyer of MNU won by two inches after clearing 5-4.5, and hitting B Standard all in the same jump. Lindenmeyer doubled down on her jumping ability, as she won the long jump as well, also in a B Standard mark of 18-3.75. In the shot put, the 2022 NAIA runner-up Madison Sutton of Benedictine won her second conference title, throwing the shot 44-8.75. Two make it three titles in one weekend, Lindenmeyer also won the Pentathlon, forty points back of her season PR from December.
On the men’s side, James Farmer-Cole claimed 200m gold in 21.75, a lifetime of PR and an A Standard mark. Farmer-Cole also won the the 400m title in 48.80, leaving behind no doubt in either event. The 600m title went to a man with range, as Benedictine’s David Mannella won over teammate Daniel Rogge in a B Standard time of 1:21.07. Mannella also won the Mile title in 4:21.09, making it three individual conference titles to his name.
The 3000m title went to Benedictine’s Joseph Accurso, who led the Friess brothers to a Raven podium sweep, with Accurso winning the race in 8:52.92. The 5000m champion was Baker’s Aidan Massey, winning the title in 15:20.67, four seconds ahead of the runner-up. In the 4x400m, MNU pulled out the half-second victory, notching a B Standard worthy time of 3:18.41, though they already hit A Standard earlier this month.
After two days of competition, and after twenty events have already been scored, the top three women’s teams were just separated by seven points. Central Methodist, the defending champions totaled 169 points heading into the final meet, with MidAmerica Nazarene two points back with 167, and Benedictine with 162. For MNU, a 4x400m victory was the only outcome that would result in the Pioneers winning a conference title, which would be their first since their five-year streak was snapped last winter. For Benedictine, there was an outside chance they could win their first title since 2016. For all three teams, a spot on the podium was inevitable, but the chance to hoist the trophy was up for grabs. Central Methodist wound up winning the final event of the weekend, with MNU and Benedictine finishing runner-up and third. The final team score would be 179-175-168, with CMU defending their title, and MNU and Benedictine finishing second and third respectively.
USA’s but inside🏟️
Compared to it’s outdoor counterpart, the USA Indoor National Championships don’t get nearly enough attention for a few reasons, but I’ll let USATF try and do their job on that one, so fingers crossed. Regardless of it’s popularity, a national title is a national title, so I’m not sure if athletes care too much. To my knowledge, and as a result of my extensive results (I scrolled through the results for a minute or two), there were three athletes with Kansas ties that made the trip to Albuquerque, NM. Up first is a very familiar face in the 800m, none other than Kansas alum Bryce Hoppel, who won his third-straight USA indoor 800m title, and his fourth overall. After an indoor season that hasn’t been the most consistent, Hoppel threw down a 1:45.92 to outlast the field.
After her third-place finish at the World Championships last summer, Kansas State alum Janee Kassanavoid is back to throwing a very heavy object very far, but this time indoors. Obviously, with a roof over their head, the indoor season calls for the weight throw instead of a hammer. In her first indoor competition of the year, Kassanavoid finished seventh as she’ll look ahead to the outdoor season.
Our third and final (I think) Kansas athlete is Pittsburg State alum Lou Rollins, who finished third in the 60mH, his highest finish in a USA championships since making the semi-final of the 110mH last summer in Eugene, OR. Rollins crossed the line in 7.63, a hundredth of a second ahead of fourth. This was a huge PR for Rollins, in fact, a quarter of a second faster than his previous best from 2020.
Sunflower State Highlights🌻
In first season as a Shocker, Adrian Diaz-Lopez has wasted no time leaving his mark at Wichita State. In back-to-back races, lowering the 3k school record down thirteen seconds to 7:54.36 and coming just two-hundredths away from tying the school record in the mile. Diaz-Lopez will toe the line again this weekend at the American Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.
On February 10th, Shawnee Mission East senior Wyatt Haughton finished 3rd in the 3000m at the Ichabod Invite. Haughton set a new state record in the event, running 8:25.35, breaking a record that was just over a month old. Haughton is the first ever Kansas high schooler to break 8:30 in the event as well.
Wichita-Trinity junior Clay Shively finished 3rd in the Nike Boy’s Mile at the 115th Millrose Games in New York, NY. Less than a second separated Shively from the victor, as Shively crossed in 4:09.15.
Rock Creek middle schooler Aria Pearce continues her indoor tear, as she has set indoor state records in both the 60m and 200m, with times of 7.48 and 24.09. She also has jumped 18-3 in the long jump, which puts her in the top one-hundred high school marks in the country this year, despite being an eighth grader. Her 60m time sits 18th in the high school rankings, and her 200m is the 16th fastest ran this year. She ranks first in all three events amongst the nation’s middle schoolers.
Thank you for reading and supporting this! If you aren’t already, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and let any track & field fan know about this so they can stay up to date on Kansas athletics! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to reach out to us through our email ksxcountrytandf@gmail.com