Citadel Military College of South Carolina Men's Cross Country

Huddlestons tenure has witnessed 75 conference champions, 330 All-Southern Conference performers, the first woman to compete in athletics at The Citadel, the first woman to win a conference championship for the Bulldogs and the first woman to compete in an NCAA championship event in school history. In addition, The Citadel has achieved nine NCAA regional qualifying marks since the implementation of the regional championship system in 2003. In 2014 a total of 20 school records were achieved by the men and women during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Five conference champions were crowned, and The Citadel boasted 16 all-conference athletes. Leading the way was Jamaal Brantley, who established himself as the top sprinter in the SoCon with an indoor 60 meter and indoor and outdoor 200 meter titles. His two wins at the indoor meet last March earned him track athlete of the meet honors. Clay Allen and Capers Williamson placed first and second in the javelin at the SoCon meet, and Allen threw 218-6 in the first outdoor meet of the season to break Kris Kuts previous school record by almost four feet. Eddie Jones eclipsed the oldest mark in The Citadel record book with a long jump of 24-4 1/4, passing Bill Elliotts record that had stood since 1962. Three Bulldogs Allen and Williamson in the javelin and Jones in the long jump qualified for the first round of the NCAA championships, with Williamson placing 13th, just one spot away from the NCAA Championship final. During the 2013 cross country season, The Citadel had a pair of athletes Raeven Lantz on the mens side and Danielle McKee for the women both earn SoCon Runner of the Week awards on two occasions. The 2012-13 track and field season saw the mens and womens teams establish 25 indoor and outdoor school records and land nine athletes on the indoor and outdoor all-conference list. The highlight for the womens team came at the indoor championships with the first all-conference performance in school history by a relay team as Micah Wessinger, Danielle McKee, Tanisha Bethel and Danielle Williams finished third in a school-record time of 3:55.04. In 2010 Huddleston guided McKee, then a freshman, to a first-place finish at the Royal Cross Country Challenge with a time of 19 minutes, just one second behind the school record. The following spring, Huddleston coached Brunson Miller to his fifth and sixth SoCon titles in the indoor and outdoor track seasons, including a school-record run in the 400 at the 2011 SoCon outdoor track and field championships. Huddleston was named the 2009 SoCon Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year after the team achieved a great deal of success during the indoor season and at the conference championships. Brian Baize clinched the school record in the heptathlon, Kevin Hardy took the title in the long jump at the SoCon Championships, and Jamel Brown earned all-conference honors in the 60 hurdles. Brown joined Christopher Graham and Zach Johnson in earning all-conference honors for the 4x400 relay, and Hardy and Graham made the SoCons inaugural All-Freshman team. During the 2009 outdoor season, Brilliance Gilchrist-Poteat broke the school record in the 100 hurdles while Brown earned an automatic bid to the NCAA East Regional. At the SoCon outdoor championships, Brown captured his second conference title in the 110 hurdles while Hardy won his second title as a freshman in the long jump. Graham, Johnson, Baize and Aaron Overton joined Brown in earning all-conference honors for the 4x400m relay. For the women, Gilchrist-Poteat and Theresa Johansen made the All-Freshman team as did Hardy and Overton for the men. The 2008 season witnessed Brown winning the schools first SoCon title for The Citadel since 2004 as he brought home the 400 hurdles title from the outdoor championships. That victory was one of Browns four all-conference accolades on the season. Huddleston also guided Tasha Sanders to three all-conference honors and a pair of runner-up finishes at the SoCon Championships in the pentathlon and heptathlon. In 2007 Huddleston led the Bulldogs to four Southern Conference championships with the womens team recording their best finish in school history, taking fifth at the outdoor meet with a program-best 56 points. Senior Stephanie McNeill brought home three individual titles (20-pound weight throw, hammer, shot put) while Sanders won her first SoCon crown (heptathlon). The mens team showcased a stellar hurdles squad, placing two finalists in the 110 and three in the 400 hurdles at the leagues outdoor meet. Huddleston guided the Bulldogs to an historic 2006 track and field season, including McNeill entering the history books on several occasions. She became the first female at The Citadel to qualify for an NCAA Championship event, throwing a mark of 47-9 in the shot put. McNeill won her flight in the event at the NCAA regional meet with a throw of 46-10 1/4, finishing 15th overall. The team finished sixth at the conference outdoor championships with 48 team points. McNeill won the conference title in the discus with a throw of 141-2, making her the first female Cadet to win a SoCon crown. Those accomplishments, along with regional and national media exposure, came in a season which saw 22 school records broken, 19 athletes receive all-conference honors, three named SoCon Athlete of the Week and two conference champions. Moreover, McNeill was named the SoCons Outstanding Field Performer, and Shaquill Smith was tabbed as the leagues freshman of the year after he won the high jump and placed fifth in the triple jump, setting a new freshman school record with a mark of 47-4.25. In 1997 Huddleston coached the first female runner at The Citadel as Mandy Garcia was a member of the cross country and track teams. Two years later, Peaches Hudson took second in the heptathlon and captured the institutions first female All-Southern Conference honor. Huddleston came to The Citadel from Oklahoma Baptist where he served as head coach for seven years and earned NAIA District IX Coach of the Year honors in 1984. That season the Bison finished second at the league championships, the best track performance for the school in over a decade. An All-American decathlete at Florida Community College, Huddleston set a new national junior college decathlon long jump record in 1975. He transferred to South Alabama and went on to establish two school records. He graduated from South Alabama in 1977 with a bachelors degree in physical education and earned a masters degree in education two years later at the same institution. Huddleston is the father of Ryan, Callie and Mary Kathryn. Mary Kathryn is the daughter of Huddleston and his, Mary Ellen.   Entering his 30th year at The Citadel, head cross country and track and field coach Jody Huddleston continues to lead one of the most successful programs at The Citadel and in the Southern Conference. Huddlestons tenure has witnessed 75 conference champions, 330 All-Southern Conference performers, the first woman to compete in athletics at The Citadel, the first woman to win a conference championship for the Bulldogs and the first woman to compete in an NCAA championship event in school history. In addition, The Citadel has achieved nine NCAA regional qualifying marks since the implementation of the regional championship system in 2003. In 2014 a total of 20 school records were achieved by the men and women during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Five conference champions were crowned, and The Citadel boasted 16 all-conference athletes. Leading the way was Jamaal Brantley, who established himself as the top sprinter in the SoCon with an indoor 60 meter and indoor and outdoor 200 meter titles. His two wins at the indoor meet last March earned him track athlete of the meet honors. Clay Allen and Capers Williamson placed first and second in the javelin at the SoCon meet, and Allen threw 218-6 in the first outdoor meet of the season to break Kris Kuts previous school record by almost four feet. Eddie Jones eclipsed the oldest mark in The Citadel record book with a long jump of 24-4 1/4, passing Bill Elliotts record that had stood since 1962. Three Bulldogs Allen and Williamson in the javelin and Jones in the long jump qualified for the first round of the NCAA championships, with Williamson placing 13th, just one spot away from the NCAA Championship final. During the 2013 cross country season, The Citadel had a pair of athletes Raeven Lantz on the mens side and Danielle McKee for the women both earn SoCon Runner of the Week awards on two occasions. The 2012-13 track and field season saw the mens and womens teams establish 25 indoor and outdoor school records and land nine athletes on the indoor and outdoor all-conference list. The highlight for the womens team came at the indoor championships with the first all-conference performance in school history by a relay team as Micah Wessinger, Danielle McKee, Tanisha Bethel and Danielle Williams finished third in a school-record time of 3:55.04. In 2010 Huddleston guided McKee, then a freshman, to a first-place finish at the Royal Cross Country Challenge with a time of 19 minutes, just one second behind the school record. The following spring, Huddleston coached Brunson Miller to his fifth and sixth SoCon titles in the indoor and outdoor track seasons, including a school-record run in the 400 at the 2011 SoCon outdoor track and field championships. Huddleston was named the 2009 SoCon Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year after the team achieved a great deal of success during the indoor season and at the conference championships. Brian Baize clinched the school record in the heptathlon, Kevin Hardy took the title in the long jump at the SoCon Championships, and Jamel Brown earned all-conference honors in the 60 hurdles. Brown joined Christopher Graham and Zach Johnson in earning all-conference honors for the 4x400 relay, and Hardy and Graham made the SoCons inaugural All-Freshman team. During the 2009 outdoor season, Brilliance Gilchrist-Poteat broke the school record in the 100 hurdles while Brown earned an automatic bid to the NCAA East Regional. At the SoCon outdoor championships, Brown captured his second conference title in the 110 hurdles while Hardy won his second title as a freshman in the long jump. Graham, Johnson, Baize and Aaron Overton joined Brown in earning all-conference honors for the 4x400m relay. For the women, Gilchrist-Poteat and Theresa Johansen made the All-Freshman team as did Hardy and Overton for the men. The 2008 season witnessed Brown winning the schools first SoCon title for The Citadel since 2004 as he brought home the 400 hurdles title from the outdoor championships. That victory was one of Browns four all-conference accolades on the season. Huddleston also guided Tasha Sanders to three all-conference honors and a pair of runner-up finishes at the SoCon Championships in the pentathlon and heptathlon. In 2007 Huddleston led the Bulldogs to four Southern Conference championships with the womens team recording their best finish in school history, taking fifth at the outdoor meet with a program-best 56 points. Senior Stephanie McNeill brought home three individual titles (20-pound weight throw, hammer, shot put) while Sanders won her first SoCon crown (heptathlon). The mens team showcased a stellar hurdles squad, placing two finalists in the 110 and three in the 400 hurdles at the leagues outdoor meet. Huddleston guided the Bulldogs to an historic 2006 track and field season, including McNeill entering the history books on several occasions. She became the first female at The Citadel to qualify for an NCAA Championship event, throwing a mark of 47-9 in the shot put. McNeill won her flight in the event at the NCAA regional meet with a throw of 46-10 1/4, finishing 15th overall. The team finished sixth at the conference outdoor championships with 48 team points. McNeill won the conference title in the discus with a throw of 141-2, making her the first female Cadet to win a SoCon crown. Those accomplishments, along with regional and national media exposure, came in a season which saw 22 school records broken, 19 athletes receive all-conference honors, three named SoCon Athlete of the Week and two conference champions. Moreover, McNeill was named the SoCons Outstanding Field Performer, and Shaquill Smith was tabbed as the leagues freshman of the year after he won the high jump and placed fifth in the triple jump, setting a new freshman school record with a mark of 47-4.25. In 1997 Huddleston coached the first female runner at The Citadel as Mandy Garcia was a member of the cross country and track teams. Two years later, Peaches Hudson took second in the heptathlon and captured the institutions first female All-Southern Conference honor. Huddleston came to The Citadel from Oklahoma Baptist where he served as head coach for seven years and earned NAIA District IX Coach of the Year honors in 1984. That season the Bison finished second at the league championships, the best track performance for the school in over a decade. An All-American decathlete at Florida Community College, Huddleston set a new national junior college decathlon long jump record in 1975. He transferred to South Alabama and went on to establish two school records. He graduated from South Alabama in 1977 with a bachelors degree in physical education and earned a masters degree in education two years later at the same institution. Huddleston is the father of Ryan, Callie and Mary Kathryn. Mary Kathryn is the daughter of Huddleston and his, Mary Ellen.  

Leonard works primarily with the middle distance and distance athletes. Leonard came to The Citadel after two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Western Carolina where she also coached the distance runners, assisted with recruiting and designed and administered workouts. She earned a masters degree in teaching in the health and physical education department at Western in May 2013. While at Western, Leonard helped lead the Catamounts to three Southern Conference championships while coaching a total of 10 all-conference performers in track and field and cross country, including a distance medley relay title at the 2013 indoor meet. She also gained teaching experience at Western, serving as an adjunct instructor in health and physical education during the fall 2013 semester and a graduate teaching assistant for two years. Leonard attended Auburn and was a member of the track and field and cross country teams all four years, earning the Academic Top Tiger award two times. She graduated magna cum laude in December 2008 with bachelors degrees in both political science and criminology.   Erin Leonard is in her third season as an assistant cross country and track and field coach at The Citadel after joining the staff last January. Leonard works primarily with the middle distance and distance athletes. Leonard came to The Citadel after two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Western Carolina where she also coached the distance runners, assisted with recruiting and designed and administered workouts. She earned a masters degree in teaching in the health and physical education department at Western in May 2013. While at Western, Leonard helped lead the Catamounts to three Southern Conference championships while coaching a total of 10 all-conference performers in track and field and cross country, including a distance medley relay title at the 2013 indoor meet. She also gained teaching experience at Western, serving as an adjunct instructor in health and physical education during the fall 2013 semester and a graduate teaching assistant for two years. Leonard attended Auburn and was a member of the track and field and cross country teams all four years, earning the Academic Top Tiger award two times. She graduated magna cum laude in December 2008 with bachelors degrees in both political science and criminology.  

Kut has watched from the sidelines as school records have fallen over and over again. Kut, who focuses mainly on the throwers and sprinters, has helped the mens team crown 45 conference champions, 213 All-Southern Conference performers and 16 NCAA qualifiers. Meanwhile, he has guided the womens programs to seven conference champions, 39 All-Southern performers and four NCAA qualifiers. That includes Stephanie McNeill, the schools first female to win a conference championship and Micah Wessinger, the schools first female runner to win a conference championship. In 2015, a total of 14 school records and six freshman records were achieved by the men and women during the indoor and outdoor seasons. One conference champion was crowned and 20 all-conference performances were achieved. Leading the way was Capers Williamson who set both the new school and Southern Conference record with a toss of 219-5. That toss was instrumental in qualifying him for the NCAA championships for the second time in as many years. Clay Allen, the runner-up with a toss of 216-9, allowed The Citadel to finish 1-2 in back-to-back years and qualify for the NCAA championships, also for the his second appearance in as many seasons. In 2014 a total of 20 school records were set by the men and women during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Five conference champions were crowned and The Citadel boasted 16 all-conference athletes. Leading the way was Jamaal Brantley, who established himself as the top sprinter in the SoCon with an indoor 60 meter and indoor and outdoor 200 meter titles. His two wins at the indoor meet last March earned him track athlete of the meet honors. Kut watched his own school record fall to both of his javelin throwers in 2014 as Allen tossed for 218-6 and Williamson threw 213-6. Williamson and Allen went 1-2 at the SoCon Championship, respectively, as they qualified for the NCAA Preliminary round in Jacksonville, Florida. Williamson finished the event 13th overall, just one spot shy of punching his ticket to the finals in Eugene, Oregon, while Allen finished 23rd.  Eddie Jones also qualified for the meet after breaking the long jump record from 1962 jumping 24-4.25 at the Tennessee Relays. The Sparta, New Jersey, native recruited and coached standout field athlete Quintin Turner, who was a SoCon finalist 18 times during his four-year career with the Bulldogs. Turner racked up 64 points at conference meets including 17 at the 2012 outdoor championships, placing in the discus, shot put and hammer. Kut guided McNeill to a total of four SoCon titles, as she became the first female from The Citadel to qualify and compete in an NCAA championship event. Under his tutelage, The Citadels cadet-student-athletes have broken numerous school records and recorded numerous top ten all-time performances. In 2007 Kut guided McNeill to three league titles while coaching cadet-student-athletes to 27 All-SoCon honors. The womens team posted a record fifth-place finish at the SoCon outdoor championships, while the mens team placed fourth for the seventh time in eight years, maintaining their presence in the upper echelon of the conference. Kut, a 2000 graduate of The Citadel, was a four-year letter winner at The Military College of South Carolina as he pursued his bachelors degree in political science. He remained at the school as he earned his masters degree in health, exercise and sport science in 2003. A three-time SoCon champion as a cadet-student-athlete, Kut also received four all-conference honors. He was the school record holder in the javelin until 2013 and was a junior national qualifier, competing in the 1997 Junior National Track and Field Meet in St. Louis, Missouri. As a senior, Kut finished seventh in the javelin at the prestigious Penn Relays as well as first at several other key meets. Kut married the former Holly Jones of Mechanicsville, Virginia, in 2003. They currently reside in Mount Pleasant with their sons, Andre Jackson and Preston, and daughter, Ella Charlotte. Kris Kut enters his 16th year as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for both The Citadel cross country and track and field teams. Along with Jody Huddleston, Kut has watched from the sidelines as school records have fallen over and over again. Kut, who focuses mainly on the throwers and sprinters, has helped the mens team crown 45 conference champions, 213 All-Southern Conference performers and 16 NCAA qualifiers. Meanwhile, he has guided the womens programs to seven conference champions, 39 All-Southern performers and four NCAA qualifiers. That includes Stephanie McNeill, the schools first female to win a conference championship and Micah Wessinger, the schools first female runner to win a conference championship. In 2015, a total of 14 school records and six freshman records were achieved by the men and women during the indoor and outdoor seasons. One conference champion was crowned and 20 all-conference performances were achieved. Leading the way was Capers Williamson who set both the new school and Southern Conference record with a toss of 219-5. That toss was instrumental in qualifying him for the NCAA championships for the second time in as many years. Clay Allen, the runner-up with a toss of 216-9, allowed The Citadel to finish 1-2 in back-to-back years and qualify for the NCAA championships, also for the his second appearance in as many seasons. In 2014 a total of 20 school records were set by the men and women during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Five conference champions were crowned and The Citadel boasted 16 all-conference athletes. Leading the way was Jamaal Brantley, who established himself as the top sprinter in the SoCon with an indoor 60 meter and indoor and outdoor 200 meter titles. His two wins at the indoor meet last March earned him track athlete of the meet honors. Kut watched his own school record fall to both of his javelin throwers in 2014 as Allen tossed for 218-6 and Williamson threw 213-6. Williamson and Allen went 1-2 at the SoCon Championship, respectively, as they qualified for the NCAA Preliminary round in Jacksonville, Florida. Williamson finished the event 13th overall, just one spot shy of punching his ticket to the finals in Eugene, Oregon, while Allen finished 23rd.  Eddie Jones also qualified for the meet after breaking the long jump record from 1962 jumping 24-4.25 at the Tennessee Relays. The Sparta, New Jersey, native recruited and coached standout field athlete Quintin Turner, who was a SoCon finalist 18 times during his four-year career with the Bulldogs. Turner racked up 64 points at conference meets including 17 at the 2012 outdoor championships, placing in the discus, shot put and hammer. Kut guided McNeill to a total of four SoCon titles, as she became the first female from The Citadel to qualify and compete in an NCAA championship event. Under his tutelage, The Citadels cadet-student-athletes have broken numerous school records and recorded numerous top ten all-time performances. In 2007 Kut guided McNeill to three league titles while coaching cadet-student-athletes to 27 All-SoCon honors. The womens team posted a record fifth-place finish at the SoCon outdoor championships, while the mens team placed fourth for the seventh time in eight years, maintaining their presence in the upper echelon of the conference. Kut, a 2000 graduate of The Citadel, was a four-year letter winner at The Military College of South Carolina as he pursued his bachelors degree in political science. He remained at the school as he earned his masters degree in health, exercise and sport science in 2003. A three-time SoCon champion as a cadet-student-athlete, Kut also received four all-conference honors. He was the school record holder in the javelin until 2013 and was a junior national qualifier, competing in the 1997 Junior National Track and Field Meet in St. Louis, Missouri. As a senior, Kut finished seventh in the javelin at the prestigious Penn Relays as well as first at several other key meets. Kut married the former Holly Jones of Mechanicsville, Virginia, in 2003. They currently reside in Mount Pleasant with their sons, Andre Jackson and Preston, and daughter, Ella Charlotte.