KANSAS CITY, MO – Rogers State head coach Matt Kennedy was named the MIAA Coach of the Year for the 2024 women’s cross country season.  
 
In his fifth season as the head cross country and track and field coach at Rogers State, Matt Kennedy led the Hillcat women to a runner-up finish in the 2024 MIAA Women’s Cross Country Championship, hosted by Missouri Western State University on Saturday, October 26 in St. Joseph, Mo. The second-place finish is the Hillcats best finish at the MIAA championship since joining the league in 2019.
 
The Hillcats totaled 70 team points in the six-kilometer championship race – 15 points behind the league’s champion, Pittsburg State. Rogers State was the only women’s program to have all five scoring runners finish in the championship’s top 20.
 
Kennedy and the Hillcats will next compete in the 2024 NCAA Division II Central Regional Championships, hosted by Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., on November 9.