SE: Rovelto Driving Force Behind K-State’s Track and Field Success
May 15, 2021 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: Greg McCune
The eyes of the Track & Field world will be on Manhattan this weekend as some of the best athletes in the sport perform during the Big 12 Championship on a new purple synthetic track that K-State Head Coach Cliff Rovelto promises will produce blistering times.
The focus will be just where Rovelto prefers it – on the student-athletes and not on himself.
In nearly three decades at the helm of the K-State program, the self-effacing Rovelto has built a Bill Snyder-like reputation as one of the best Track & Field coaches in the world.
Under his tutelage, K-State has won four Big 12 women's team championships and 11 NCAA titles in the high jump.
In 2012, the last time K-State hosted the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, Rovelto posed with six men who had cleared 2.30 meters under his coaching, a world class height in the high jump. Two others had reached that level but weren't able to be present for the reunion.
One of his current pupils, Tejaswin Shankar, has a personal best of 2.29 meters, just one centimeter short of Rovelto's 2.30 meters club.
Rovelto's wife Karol, once a champion high jumper herself, is operations manager for the K-State program.
Rovelto has also carved out a specialty as a multi-events coach and K-State has won four NCAA Heptathlon championships during his tenure.
Ryann Krais Hierholzer said Rovelto's individualized training programs, attention to detail and overall structure were critical to her winning an NCAA title in the Heptathlon in 2011.
"The impact that Coach Rovelto had on my career and life extends significantly beyond his mastery of track & field," she said. "Coach has a genuine care for his athletes. I could always trust that he was invested in my athletic goals and well-being as a person."
Every year, athletes trek to Manhattan, Kansas, from around the world to train under Rovelto. He also draws some of the best track & field athletes from the Midwest region.
K-State's current group of high jumpers includes athletes from India, the Bahamas and Jamaica as well as Missouri and Olathe, Kansas. K-State's multi-event athletes hail from Lithuania, Wyoming, Missouri, Illinois and Rossville, Kansas.
When they graduate, Rovelto doesn't rebuild, he reloads. K-State has signed the top high school high jumper in the nation from Indiana, who will arrive on campus later this year.
"Coach Rovelto is one of the reasons I came to K-State, one of the big reasons," said Lauren Taubert from Casper, Wyoming, who leads the Big 12 in the Heptathlon going into the conference meet. "I think a big thing with him was just trusting the process. He tells all of his athletes that, and I think once you actually believe that and you trust his workouts and what he's telling you to do, anything is possible."
Clyde Hart, the legendary coach at Baylor for 56 years, is credited with guiding Olympic 400 meters gold medalists Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner. Hart got to know Rovelto well when they were roommates for a week as coaches for the U.S. team at the 2017 World Championships in London.
"It turned out to be a week of track clinics every night in our room," Hart said.
Rovelto should not be tagged as only a high jump coach or only a multi-events coach, Hart said.
"Cliff has been a great head coach," he said. "He could coach any event and be successful."
Texas Tech Head Track and Field Coach Wes Kittley, whose team will be among those that battle K-State this weekend at the Big 12 meet, said he treasure his friendship with Rovelto off the track.
"He is one of the greatest, world-renowned coaches that I have ever been around," said Kittley, whose team won the NCAA men's championship in 2019.
"People have no idea of how great a job he does and has done at K-State," Kittley said.
The eyes of the Track & Field world will be on Manhattan this weekend as some of the best athletes in the sport perform during the Big 12 Championship on a new purple synthetic track that K-State Head Coach Cliff Rovelto promises will produce blistering times.
The focus will be just where Rovelto prefers it – on the student-athletes and not on himself.
In nearly three decades at the helm of the K-State program, the self-effacing Rovelto has built a Bill Snyder-like reputation as one of the best Track & Field coaches in the world.
Under his tutelage, K-State has won four Big 12 women's team championships and 11 NCAA titles in the high jump.
In 2012, the last time K-State hosted the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, Rovelto posed with six men who had cleared 2.30 meters under his coaching, a world class height in the high jump. Two others had reached that level but weren't able to be present for the reunion.
One of his current pupils, Tejaswin Shankar, has a personal best of 2.29 meters, just one centimeter short of Rovelto's 2.30 meters club.
Rovelto's wife Karol, once a champion high jumper herself, is operations manager for the K-State program.
Rovelto has also carved out a specialty as a multi-events coach and K-State has won four NCAA Heptathlon championships during his tenure.
Ryann Krais Hierholzer said Rovelto's individualized training programs, attention to detail and overall structure were critical to her winning an NCAA title in the Heptathlon in 2011.
"The impact that Coach Rovelto had on my career and life extends significantly beyond his mastery of track & field," she said. "Coach has a genuine care for his athletes. I could always trust that he was invested in my athletic goals and well-being as a person."
Every year, athletes trek to Manhattan, Kansas, from around the world to train under Rovelto. He also draws some of the best track & field athletes from the Midwest region.
K-State's current group of high jumpers includes athletes from India, the Bahamas and Jamaica as well as Missouri and Olathe, Kansas. K-State's multi-event athletes hail from Lithuania, Wyoming, Missouri, Illinois and Rossville, Kansas.
When they graduate, Rovelto doesn't rebuild, he reloads. K-State has signed the top high school high jumper in the nation from Indiana, who will arrive on campus later this year.
"Coach Rovelto is one of the reasons I came to K-State, one of the big reasons," said Lauren Taubert from Casper, Wyoming, who leads the Big 12 in the Heptathlon going into the conference meet. "I think a big thing with him was just trusting the process. He tells all of his athletes that, and I think once you actually believe that and you trust his workouts and what he's telling you to do, anything is possible."
Clyde Hart, the legendary coach at Baylor for 56 years, is credited with guiding Olympic 400 meters gold medalists Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner. Hart got to know Rovelto well when they were roommates for a week as coaches for the U.S. team at the 2017 World Championships in London.
"It turned out to be a week of track clinics every night in our room," Hart said.
Rovelto should not be tagged as only a high jump coach or only a multi-events coach, Hart said.
"Cliff has been a great head coach," he said. "He could coach any event and be successful."
Texas Tech Head Track and Field Coach Wes Kittley, whose team will be among those that battle K-State this weekend at the Big 12 meet, said he treasure his friendship with Rovelto off the track.
"He is one of the greatest, world-renowned coaches that I have ever been around," said Kittley, whose team won the NCAA men's championship in 2019.
"People have no idea of how great a job he does and has done at K-State," Kittley said.
Players Mentioned
/ Track & Field
/ Track & Field
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