KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Pittsburg State track and field coaching staff has been voted the MIAA’s men’s and women’s coaching staff off the year for the 2023-24 outdoor track and field season.
 
Pittsburg State captured both the men’s and women’s titles at the Association’s outdoor track and field championships. It marked the men's fourth consecutive MIAA outdoor title and the ninth in the last 13 seasons. On the women's side, it was the program's first outdoor title since 2022 and the seventh in the last nine seasons. 
 
The Gorillas men compiled 186.5 points at the 2024 outdoor championships, totaling 67.5 more points than the championship’s runner-up. Pitt State also led all MIAA men's teams with 12 All-MIAA honors and six individual champions.

The Gorillas women totaled 212.5 points and led the team standings eah day of the three-day meet. Pitt State women claimed 19 total All-MIAA performances with 10 individual MIAA championships and had one relay team victory. Pitt State's 4x100-meter relay team set a new MIAA outdoor record in the women’s 4x100 with winning time of 44.46. The team of Blakelee Winn, Taniya Looney, Jamiya Morgan and Diandrenique Gaines beat the league’s previous record set by Lincoln at last year’s outdoor championship by 0.20 seconds.

The Pitt State women and men also claimed both MIAA Championship titles in cross country and indoor track and field during the 2023-24 academic year, becoming the first MIAA member school to accomplish this feat since 1988-89 (Southeast Missouri State University).
 
The Gorillas are led by Head Coach Kyle Rutledge and Associate Head Coach and Meet Director Brian Mantooth. Assisting Rutledge and Mantooth are coaches Ben Barrows, Jesse Miller, Jason Crow, Louis Rollins, Nicolle Murphy and graduate assistant Kyle Stevison.
 
Pitt State and its MIAA counterparts will now prepare for the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships, hosted by Emporia State University at the Hornets' Welch Stadium May 23-25 in Emporia, Kan.