{"id":60082,"date":"2021-06-07T15:23:03","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=60082"},"modified":"2021-06-07T15:23:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:23:05","slug":"tigers-continue-consistent-winning-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=60082","title":{"rendered":"Tigers continue consistent, winning tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might have turned out to be an auspicious decision for Fort Hays State University coaches to drive, rather than fly, their team to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Allendale, Mich., the last week of May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers might have had to pay extra\non a return flight to bring home all their hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FHSU athletes placed in the top eight of\nfive different events, earning first-team, All-America status \u2013 and the\ntrophies that accompany that honor. Because two of those events were relays,\nFort Hays State brought home 10 trophies in all. Three more Tigers finished\nninth through 12th in their events and were named second-team All-Americans. In\nall, FHSU took 14 competitors to the 2021 season finale, and 13 of those earned\neither first-team or second-team All-America recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers returned home with another\nnational champion \u2013 Ryan Stanley in the pole vault. That marks Fort Hays\nState\u2019s fifth national champ since 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some point to a long-standing tradition\nto explain the recent success for the Tiger track and field program. Brett\nMeyer, a former national champion for the Tigers, calls it consistency, for\nwhich he credits Jason McCullough, head coach of both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s\nprograms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer, now a graduate assistant coach\nfor the Tigers, was a five-time All-American during his college days at FHSU.\nMeyer won the national title in the 1,500-meter run his senior year in 2019 and\nis currently attempting to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. It was\nMcCullough who encouraged Meyer, whose longest distance in high school track\nwas 800 meters, to step out of his comfort zone and run the 1,500 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer decided to give it a try. Two\nyears later, he won a national championship and is now chasing a dream of\nqualifying for the Trials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoach McCullough stresses to us that we\nhave to be consistent over a period of time, that we aren\u2019t going to be an\nAll-American as a freshman or sophomore,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to buy into the\nprogram and believe in the consistency part – continue to work hard and be\npatient. Once you figure that out, it really motivates you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers\u2019 newest national champion\nagrees. After placing fourth at the national indoor meet in February, Ryan\nStanley had trouble getting his steps down during the outdoor season. He\nno-heighted at four meets before clearing the national-qualifying standard at\nthe final outdoor meet of the regular season. He then went on to break his own\nschool record at nationals with his winning height of 17 feet, 2.75 inches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew I had one of the better jumps in\nDivision II,\u201d Stanley said, \u201cso every time after I no-heighted, I just had to\npick myself back up and go back to work, figuring out my steps. I just had to\nkeep in mind to stay the course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trever Medina believes strong team chemistry\nalso contributes to the Tigers\u2019 success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a family, and we all want\neach other to succeed,\u201d said Medina, one of the Tigers\u2019 top middle-distance\nrunners, who grew up in the small western Kansas town of Weskan. \u201cWe all win\ntogether and believe in each other. It\u2019s good to have everyone pulling in the\nsame direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCullough goes back to his college\ncareer when talking about the consistency \u2013 and tradition \u2013 of Tiger success. A\nformer All-American in cross country, McCullough ran for Jim Krob, who coached\nat FHSU for 17 years before retiring in 2005. McCullough took over the\ncross-country program when Krob retired while also serving as an assistant\ntrack coach under Dennis Weber. When Weber retired in 2017, McCullough became\nhead coach of both programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krob, who lives in Hays and still\nfollows the Tigers closely, knew the program was in good hands when McCullough\nmoved into the head coaching ranks, first for the cross-country program, then\nfor track and field as well. Krob has known McCullough since he came to FHSU on\na wrestling scholarship back in 1994 and walked onto the cross-country team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember him telling me he wanted to\nrun cross country, and I thought, \u2018What a find,\u2019\u201d Krob said. \u201cHe was really\nfocused and determined back then, and he hasn\u2019t changed one bit. He knows his\nathletes and knows what it takes to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCullough indeed does have the same\nphilosophy for his teams as he did as an athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of the athletes at this level take\na little more time to develop,\u201d he said. \u201cIn D-II we\u2019re not getting the high\nschool All-Americans. For the most part, we get western Kansas athletes, and\nthey have to put in that time and effort. I was not that good when I started.\nIt took a lot of time and effort. That\u2019s how you build a winning program \u2013 to\nhave your athletes continually improve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping accomplish those goals is a\ncoaching staff second to none, McCullough says. The Tiger staff includes six\nassistants, including Meyer, who excel in their specialties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI give the assistants a lot of autotomy\nwith their decisions and training when it comes to competition,\u201d McCullough\nsaid. \u201cThey have a lot of responsibility when it comes to developing different\nathletes. You put that all together, and it provides good opportunities for the\nathletes to showcase their talents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While qualifying for \u2013 and placing at \u2013\nnationals is the ultimate goal of most athletes, McCullough said his rewards as\na coach go way beyond trophies.\n\n\u201cIt might be someone making All-American, or it\nmight be an athlete who improves enough to make the conference meet,\u201d he said.\n\u201cMy joy as a coach is to see people improve and enjoy what they are doing.\u201d\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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