MANHATTAN, Kan. – Former K-State Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Cliff Rovelto was honored on Friday (Oct.25) night as the K-State indoor track was named in his honor after 36 years of dedication to the program.
Director of Athletics Gene Taylor and current Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Travis Geopfert announced the indoor track at the recently renovated K-State Indoor Track and Field Complex would be named the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track after his legendary career of 32 years at the helm of the men’s and women’s programs.
“Probably one of the most important, the most impactful things that he’s done, is the number of young people’s lives that he’s touched over the years,” Taylor said. “How many men and women that he’s given opportunities to compete at this level and have success, many who maybe came here that weren’t the most highly touted recruit, most highly touted track athlete, and yet he worked with them, the staff worked with them. They had chances to achieve successes that maybe they never dreamed of under his leadership and under this coaching. And so, to see both our current athletes and more recent athletes and former athletes come back to say thank you to coach Rovelto was pretty special.”
Rovelto announced in May his retirement at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, becoming the second-most tenured coach in K-State history, just behind Hall of Fame track coach Ward Haylett with 34 years. Among his accomplishments, Rovelto was named the 2001 NCAA Women’s Outdoor National Coach of the Year, a 6-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, a 2002 Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame inductee as well as an assistant coach in multiple meets for Team USA.
“This facility was a long time coming, all we ever wanted to do was provide our student athletes an opportunity to be successful and to accomplish their dreams in sport,” Rovelto said. “And all I tried to do as a coach is serve as a shepherd, if you will, of the track and field and cross country programs at Kansas State. It was never my program, it was never our program as the staff, it was always Kansas State’s program. We always tried to do what was in the best interest of the university and this athletic department.”
The indoor track complex houses a 200-meter, 6-lane oval, permanent banked track featuring Mondo’s Super X 720 surface, utilized for the first time during the 2023-24 season, hosting three track meets with Division I competition.
“There is a vision that you have for this place, and you wanted it done, just like you do in coaching, you wanted it done, and you wanted it done correctly.” Geopfert said. “The details, all the things that you’ve done, I mean, look at this place, it’s unbelievable. This is one of the best track and field facilities in the entire work and you, coach Rovelto, have designed it, and the support of our administration to help see this vision with you and fulfill this vision with you is unbelievable. And this commitment by Kansas State, and this commitment by you, coach Rovelto, is going to transcend track and field for a long time.”
Under the leadership of Rovelto, 17 Wildcats were named NCAA Champions, 11 of them NCAA high jump champions, including 7 titles from three men, Scott Sellers, Erik Kynard Jr. and Tejaswin Shankar in a 15-year span. He also led the women’s team to all 5 of the program’s Big 12 Championships, four women’s outdoor (2001, 2002, 2017, 2018) and women’s cross country in 1998.
“Coach Rovelto, everybody here knows the legendary status that you have,” Geopfert said. “And what you have done for so many young lives is the definition of what coaching should be. And a lot of young coaches aspire to do that. Nobody’s gonna end up filling your shoes, what you have done here is incredible, and the stats speak for themselves across the board. And you’ve also mentored so many coaches over the years, and me being one of them.”
The announcement of the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track was during the K-State Track Open House in which former Wildcats Olympians were also celebrated, including Kynard (’13) with his reallocated high jump gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics and Eugene Omalla (’24) who earned gold during the summer Paris Olympics with The Netherlands 4×100 mixed relay.
“It has been all of our honor to know you as a coach, as a leader, as a mentor and for some of us a grandfather figure,” Kynard said. “I appreciate you for allowing me to make you look so good. In all seriousness coach, as a young man who moved here in August 2009, all 800 plus miles away from his home to pursue his dream, I appreciate your leadership on and off the track. He even gave me my first real job as a coach and trusted me to lead others, I appreciate that as well. It’s just been all of our honor and all of our pleasure to have you as a part of our lives.”
