Pittsburg State University Women's Cross Country

Jewett began his tenure as a full-time member of the Pittsburg State University athletic department in 1985. Jewett has served as an assistant athletic director since 1989, assuming the role of Senior Associate Athletic Director in 2011. He assumed the positions of PSU head mens and womens track & field coach in 1987, PSUs head womens cross country coach in 1986 and head mens cross country coach in 1989. In cross country, Jewett has led the PSU women to eight MIAA titles and 10 trips to the NCAA Division II National Championships. While the PSU men have not garnered an MIAA title, the Gorillas have made five NCAA Division II National Championships appearances, including three straight trips from 2007-09. In track & field, Jewett has guided the Gorilla men to 11 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association outdoor titles, including four in a row from 2012-15, and four MIAA indoor crowns.  He has led the Pitt State women to nine MIAA outdoor titles, including back-to-back honors the last two seasons (2015-16), and four MIAA indoor championships. Jewett guided the womens program to the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship the first national championship in program history. He was named the 2016 NCAA Division II Womens Outdoor National Coach of the Year following the season. Additionally, he garnered NCAA Division II Womens Indoor National Coach of the Year accolades in 1995; and Jewett has been honored as MIAA Coach of the Year 35 times since PSU joined the league in 1989, more than any other conference coach during that span.  Most recently he was named the 2016 MIAA Womens Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year after leading the Gorillas to their second consecutive conference crown last spring. The womens cross country team has captured MIAA titles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010 and 2011. The PSU women own MIAA outdoor titles from 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2015 and 2016.  The Gorilla women also garnered MIAA indoor titles in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996. His mens track & field squad captured the MIAA outdoor titles in 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.  PSU also has won MIAA indoor titles in 1993, 1995, 2014 and 2015. In addition to team success, Gorilla track & field and cross country student-athletes have earned NCAA Division II All-America honors on nearly 300 occasions under Jewett, including 31 individual event national champions in the sports. In mens track & field, the Gorillas have placed among the top 25 teams in NCAA Division II in 20 of 27 outdoor seasons under Jewett (23 times, indoors).  PSU has placed among the top 10 teams eight times during the outdoor season including a fourth-place finish in 1999 and fifth-place finishes in 2014 and 2015. The Gorillas have five top 10 indoor finishes including a third-place finish in 1995 and a sixth-place finish in 2000. In womens track & field, PSU has placed among the top 25 teams in NCAA Division II 19 times in the last 27 outdoor seasons (15 times, indoors). The Gorillas have five top 10 outdoor finishes including a fifth-place finish in 2015 and the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championship. Pitt State has four top 10 indoor finishes including a fourth-place finish in 2016. A native of Olathe, Kan., Jewett graduated cum laude from PSU in 1983 with a bachelors degree in computer science and mathematics. He was a three-time CSIC champion hurdler and an All-American decathlete in 1982, placing second at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships. Jewett served as the chair of the NCAA Track & Field Committee, which oversees all levels of NCAA Track & Field competition (Division I, II, & III), from 2005-06. Russ wife, Janice, is an instructor in the Health, Human Performance and Recreation Department at PSU. The couple has a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Will.

Brian Mantooth serves as Associate Head Coach / Meet Director for the Pittsburg State University track & field program. Mantooth was promoted to Associate Head Coach following the retirement of the Gorillas' long-time mentor Russ Jewett and the promotion of Kyle Rutledge as Pitt State’s new head coach on June 7, 2021. Mantooth recently completed his 15th year as a full-time assistant coach in the Pitt State program, after serving as a part-time assistant coach for eight years for his alma mater. He also has served as Meet Director for the past four years. Mantooth, who is responsible for coaching throwing events, has been honored as the NCAA Division II Men’s Outdoor National Assistant Coach of the Year twice in the last nine years. He received the national accolades in 2014 and again in 2016. Mantooth also has earned Regional Assistant Coach of the Year recognition five times (2009, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021).   He helped guide the Pitt State women to the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship – the first team title in school history – as well as six of the last eight MIAA Outdoor Championships (2015-19, ’22) and six of the last seven MIAA Indoor Championships (2017-20, ’22-23). Mantooth also has helped lead the Pitt State men capture the last three consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships – the 2022 Outdoor as well as the 2023 Indoor and Outdoor titles. He also helped guide the Gorillas to the 2018 NCAA-II Indoor National Championship – a program first championship for the Pitt State men. The Gorillas have won seven of the last 10 MIAA Indoor Titles (2014-15, ’17-18, ’21-23) and eight of the last 11 MIAA Outdoor titles (2012-15, ’18, ’21-23) In all he has helped coach Gorilla teams to 29 team indoor or outdoor conference titles.   During his tenure as a Pitt State assistant, the Gorillas have produced 94 first-team All-America performances between the men’s and women’s teams as well as 176 NCAA Division II national meet qualifiers. Additionally, Mantooth has coached six national champion performances, eight national runners-up, 265 All-MIAA performances as well as 55 MIAA championship efforts and eight MIAA Championships meet records. He also has coached one NCAA Division II all-time record holder (Garrett Appier, shot put, 2016), two Olympic Trials qualifiers (Garrett Appier, shot put, 2016; Brett Thompson, javelin, 2021) and one Junior USATF National Qualifier (Creighton Sanders, javelin, 2017). Mantooth also has coached 40 different record holders at Pitt State as well as 16 CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-America throwers, including the 2019-20 CoSIDA Academic All-America Men's Track & Field Team Member of the Year (Levi Wyrick) and four NCAA Elite 90 Award winners. A native of Caney, Kan., Mantooth was a three-time All-MIAA thrower during his collegiate days at Pittsburg State, capturing MIAA titles in the hammer and the weight throw on the Gorillas’ 2000 MIAA Championship squad. Mantooth came to Pitt State from Coffeyville Community College, where he established the school record in the hammer and the weight throw for the Ravens. Mantooth earned a bachelor’s degree in wood technology from Pittsburg State in 2001.  He is married to former All-MIAA thrower and PSU weight throw record holder Megan Snyder. The couple has a son, Logan Brooks, who turns 17 on Sept. 15, a daughter, Brilee Marie, who turns 15 on Dec. 22, and a son, Brett Cannon, who turns 10 on Oct. 1.  

In lightning-quick time, Kyle Rutledge has etched himself as one of the most decorated coaches in NCAA Division II cross country/track & field history. Since becoming the head coach of the Pittsburg State University cross country and track & field programs on June 7, 2021, Rutledge has led the Gorillas to nine NCAA Division II National Championships and 21 MIAA crowns program-wide. In January 2025, his title was updated to Director of Cross Country/Track & Field.   The Pitt State men placed third overall at the 2022 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships, before claiming nationals titles during the 2022 outdoor season, 2023 indoor season, 2023 outdoor campaign, 2024 indoor season, 2024 outdoor season, 2025 indoor season and 2025 outdoor season – an amazing string of seven consecutive national championships entering the 2026 indoor campaign. The Pitt State women enjoyed four top 10 national finishes between the 2022 and 2023 seasons:  fifth place, tie (2022 indoor), ninth place (2022 outdoor), eighth place, tie (2023 indoor), seventh place (2023 outdoor). The Gorillas finished as the national runner-up at the 2024 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships and Pitt State captured the program’s second-ever national title at the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships. The Gorillas followed that up by claiming the 2025 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship and posting a third-place national finish during the 2025 outdoor seasons The Gorillas have captured 15 of 16 MIAA titles during the past four years with the Pitt State men sweeping indoor and outdoor crowns all four years and the Pitt State women taking seven of eight titles (2022 indoor/outdoor, 2023 indoor, 2024 indoor/outdoor, 2025 indoor/outdoor). In cross country, the Pitt State men captured the 2021 MIAA Championship and 2023 MIAA Championship, while the Pitt State women are the four-time defending MIAA champions (2022-2025 MIAA Championships). The Gorillas men have made five straight trips to the NCAA Division II National Championships, highlighted by a program-best seventh place national finish at the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championships. The Pitt State women have made four consecutive trips, earning top 20 national finishes each time (13th in 2025).   Rutledge has been named the NCAA Division II Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year seven times in the last four years:  2022 Outdoor, 2023 Indoor & 2023 Outdoor, 2024 Indoor & 2024 Outdoor, 2025 Indoor & Outdoor. Additionally, he garnered 2024 NCAA Division II Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year as well as 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year accolades.   The Pitt State coaching staff has been honored as the MIAA Coaching Staff of the Year 19 times in the last four-plus years between men’s and women’s cross country (2021-25) and men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field (2022-25). In August, the Pittsburg State University men's and women's track & field teams were jointly honored as the 2025 Team of the Year by the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. Additionally, Rutledge helped train and coach former Gorilla Cordell Tinch this past summer. Rutledge accompanied Tinch to Tokyo where he captured the 2025 World Championship in the 110-meter hurdles. Tinch, who also won the Diamond League Final in Zurich prior to the World Championships, finished the year ranked No. 1 in the World in the discipline. Rutledge entered his fifth year as head coach in 2025-26 and his 14th year as a member of the Pitt State track & field coaching staff. He served nine years as a full-time assistant, including four years as Associate Head Coach, under former head coach Russ Jewett.   As an assistant coach, Rutledge helped guide the Pitt State women to the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship – the first team title in school history – as well as five straight MIAA Outdoor Championships from 2015-2019 and five straight MIAA Indoor Championships from 2016-2020.   Rutledge garnered NCAA Division II Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors four times:  2015 Indoor, Women; 2016 Outdoor, Women; 2017 Indoor, Women; and, 2018 Indoor, Men.   Rutledge also helped lead the Pitt State men to the 2018 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship – the first team title in school history – as well as five MIAA Indoor Championships (2014-2015, 2017-2018, 2021) and five MIAA Outdoor Championships (2013-2015, 2018, 2021) between 2013 and 2021. Prior to coming to Pitt State, Rutledge served as an assistant coach at Missouri S&T for three years. He coached 12 NCAA Division II All-Americans and had athletes achieve GLVC Indoor Athlete of the Year, Indoor Freshman of the Year, GLVC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and NCAA Division II Regional Athlete of the Year honors. Additionally, his athletes broke 23 school records. Rutledge spent one season at Johnson County Community College before going to Rolla, Mo. He coached three NJCAA All-Americans while at JCCC.   Rutledge also spent two seasons coaching at his alma mater, Missouri Southern. While there, he coached the pole vault, high jump, sprints and multi events. In two seasons, his athlete compiled 10 NCAA Division II All-America performances, including three NCAA Division II National Runner-up efforts and multiple MIAA individual event titles. During Rutledge's time as a student-athlete for the MSSU track & field team, he qualified for both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Division II National Championships in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 in the pole vault. He earned All-America honors in 2003, 2005 and 2006, placing second at the 2006 NCAA-II Indoor Championship and third at the 2005 NCAA-II Outdoor Championship. Rutledge has his USATF Level I Coaches Certification, USTFCCCA Multi-Event Specialist Certification and USTFCCCA Jumps Specialist Certification. Rutledge is married to the former Natalie Noe. The couple has three children:  Emery, 14, and twins, Cash and Quinn, 12.