Maryville University of Saint Louis Men's Track

Kaufman has been the head coach of the cross country program since the summer of 2008 and the track and field teams since their reinstatement as an NCAA program in 2010 after a 3 year absence. During coach Kaufman's tenure at Maryville University, the cross country and track & field teams have seen tremendous growth. The teams records have been rewritten with nearly every record being broken since taking over the program.   Kaufmans teams at Maryville have been on the rise in both academic and athletic recognition in track and field. The teams are consistently ranked in the top 10 among team GPA in the country including the 2014-2015 school year which saw them mens team with the 3 rd highest team GPA in DII and the womens team with the top team GPA in the NCAA. In 2014, Elizabeth Kiblinger became the first female athlete in school history to obtain an NCAA national competition appearance for track and field and followed that up with 2 nd team All-American status in 2015 with 12 th place finishes in both the indoor 5k and outdoor 10k at the NCAA national meets. In Cross Country, Maryville has seen 2 conference freshman of the year in Jessica Banda (2008) & Sam Hartnett (2012). In 2015, the womens team posted a program best average of 18:59 for 5,000m at the Kentucky Wesleyan fast cats challenge. The Mens cross country team earned its first top 10 regional ranking in cross country and posted the 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th fastest individuals in school history for 8,000m. Prior to coming to Maryville, Kaufman served as an assistant coach for the cross country and track & field programs at Northwest Missouri State University. While at Northwest Missouri State, he coached several national qualifiers, which included NCAA All-Americans in the high jump, triple jump, and decathlon. In addition, Kaufman gained tremendous experience in recruiting, fundraising, and meet management. Kaufman also spent four years with the Bellevue Breeze Summer Track Club coaching distance and javelin, and one year as an assistant track coach at Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa.   Kaufman, an NAIA national qualifier in cross country and track & field, has earned his Bachelor of Science in K-12 Physical Education and Health from Graceland University in 2006 and pursued his Master of Physical Education with an emphasis on Athletics Administration at Northwest Missouri State.  He also holds a USA Track & Field Level II certification in endurance events.