Putting K-State on the National – and World – Map
Jan 28, 2026 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
For now, the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track carries one heartbeat, as the rhythm of high-energy music fills the spacious, mostly empty, white-walled kingdom nestled on the corner of the Kansas State campus one afternoon earlier this week. To the side, six long flats of purple stadium bleachers, six rows of seating apiece hug a wall. Nearby, stacks of white hurdles with "Wildcats" written in purple script edge against the 200-meter, 6-lane oval, permanent banked track with Mondo's Super X 720 surface.
About 50 yards away, in the infield, a track and field athlete practices a high jump and another darts down a track to execute a pole vault, as a 47-year-old man donned in a black track suit walks across the track, trying his best to conceal a grin, as he makes his way toward an awaiting white director's chair.
"It's brutal outside, man, isn't it?" says Travis Geopfert, the second-year K-State Director of Track and Field, referring to the -16 degree windchill sweeping through the parking lot and the blanket of heavy snowfall that hit Manhattan over the weekend. "We gotta keep this place warm."
K-State track and field has never been hotter.
On a historic day for the K-State men's track and field program, K-State opened ranked No. 3 in the nation in the men's indoor poll released by USTFCCCA on Tuesday. The women's track and field team start out at No. 34 in the indoor poll.
"We're going to focus on the process, but we're trying to win," Geopfert says. "We're trying to win on both the men's and women's sides. The first line of defense of any program is trying to win conference championships. The Big 12 isn't easy. The Texas Tech men's team is tough, and they've won how many in a row, but we're trying to win. There's no doubt.
"On the women's side, it's BYU and Texas Tech that we're definitely battling. It's going to be a dog fight on both sides. It's going to be a straight up dog fight on both sides. We might win or we might not win, but we're sure as hell going to try."
Geopfert was a four-time National Assistant Coach of the Year during two stints at Arkansas across 12 years with 22 total years of experience also at Tennessee, Northern Iowa and Central Missouri. At Arkansas with the men's team, Geopfert was a part of two NCAA Championship teams in 2013 and 2023 and 21 top-10 NCAA team finishes and 25 SEC Championships.
"The NCAA Championships is freaking hard," Geopfert says. "It's freaking hard to win that meet. I've been fortunate to be on a couple teams that have won it, but it's extremely difficult to win that meet. But we at K-State, we're not going to lay down. These kids are bought in, there's excitement generating around the program, and they believe they can win. As coaches, we believe they can win. I'm not going to guarantee a national title. I'm not that silly.
"But I can guarantee we're going to try."
The Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track should be ablaze on Friday. That's when the DeLoss Dodds Invitational heats up and will feature some of the best of the best in NCAA track and field. Oklahoma, Baylor, Air Force, Kansas and Iowa State are bringing their entire teams to compete in the two-day event. USC and Stanford are bringing their jumpers and Purdue is bringing a few athletes to compete as well.
The DeLoss Dodds Invitational will serve as part of the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Tour featuring six field events showcasing the sport's best athletes, including Olympians, World Championship Medalists and NCAA All-Americans. Fans will be invited to bring their lawn chairs and sit in the infield of the track to get an up-close appreciation for the competitors, who will compete from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday.
That's plenty big. And it's also unheard of.
"To my knowledge, a meet like this with opening up the infield, and having select events, has never been done in the United States," Geopfert says. "I have never seen something like this in indoor track, where you literally open up the infield and let everybody get right next to the runways — I've never seen it. We'll have fans sitting in the middle of the indoor track, five feet away from the runway, sitting close enough to get sprayed by the sand, and they can really get a vibe for how high 7-feet, 8-inches is in the high jump. Seeing it all up close and personal, feeling the energy and excitement, it's going to be a really cool experience.
"With the World Athletics Tour, you can get points in terms of world rankings, and it's a certified meet for world-rankings points for both the men's and women's long jump, the men's high jump, the women's pole vault, and the men's and women's triple jump. We're condensing those events into a two-hour window and are streaming it live on Trackwired, a YouTube channel, and it's going to go global. There will be people all over the world watching this meet in Manhattan, Kansas."
The World Athletics Indoor Tour is a World Athletics/USATF sanctioned competition. Although this meet will be conducted under NCAA rules, it will also be sanctioned by World Athletics and USATF to be compliant with the qualification requirements for both USATF Championships and World Athletics Championships. Results will be reported to both TFRRS and to World Athletics/USATF.
Spectators will be invited to stand an arm's length from the action. The facility's banked track will be open for fans to experience the competition up close. In addition to a large list of internationally recognized athletes, the event will spotlight a few K-State student-athletes who will be going up against the world's best. It includes two Kansas natives stepping into the global spotlight as Alan Hanna of Maize and Devin Loudermilk of Howard will line up against 2024 Paris Olympic Silver Medalist Shelby McEwen and fellow 2024 Olympic High Jump Finalist Romaine Beckford and Brian Raats.
"I'm pumped, dude," Geopfert says. "It was interesting. Last night, I could hardly sleep because of that intentional focus of the week and so many things we had to get done early this week in preparation for it and getting the team ready for it. I'm excited. Just like I'm about to tell the team in the meeting today, let's focus on the process."
For K-State track and field, Friday and Saturday is a part of the process on a state-of-the-art indoor track that is up there with the best in the country. The track, named on October 25, 2024, after Cliff Rovelto, the former Director of Track and Field/Cross Country who retired after 36 years, features Mondo's Super X 720 surface, which provides the optimal blend of energy return, comfort, safety and durability for everything from daily training to the toughest competitions. An 8-lane sprint straightaway, a pole vault lane, two long jump/triple jump lanes, throw areas, a 4-lane warm-up straightaway and non-competition areas around the track also showcase Mondo's surface. The competition surfaces, as well as the warm-up lanes, are in a shade of purple Mondo custom created for the program.
In a typical year, K-State hosts multiple indoor events, including the DeLoss Dodds Invitational and the Steve Miller Invitational.
"We've proven it with hosting meets already and with this facility that this is a great place to jump," Geopfert says. "We had a 3:55 mile and a 7:39 3K, we're starting to prove it on that front that the track is fast. Now we need to create an unbelievable atmosphere to prove it more in the sprints and in some of the other track events. Once we prove it, we're going to get more teams to come here. We're pushing really hard. The track is fast. They built an unbelievable track here. Now we have to show that we have the atmosphere that's conducive for big-time meets.
"We're gaining steam with those other college teams. Once we show that this place can host an unbelievable event from an experience standpoint and fast-track standpoint, we're going to host some big-time meets here in Manhattan, Kansas."
Currently, K-State and its men's No. 3 national ranking, isn't just on the map, rather it's near the top of the map, in the world of NCAA Track and Field.
"One thing we're going to talk about in our team meeting today is when you overcome adversity, you focus on the process," Geopfert says. "When you have challenging things in life, you focus on the process. When you have success, you focus on the process and on what you have to do next to continue to get better and to continue to perform. No matter what we accomplish, there's always somebody working just as hard that's trying to beat us. We have to focus on the process. I'm proud of this team because it is a team. These kids have bought in and what is largely an individual sport, these kids and our coaches and support staff have created a really positive team atmosphere where they're now competing for something that's bigger than themselves. They're competing for a program that's going to be in the mix to win stuff.
"Our team rankings are pretty high. Our men are No. 3, and our women are heading toward the Top 25, and we haven't shown all our cards yet."
He pauses.
"But we're going to show some more cards this weekend."
For now, the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track carries one heartbeat, as the rhythm of high-energy music fills the spacious, mostly empty, white-walled kingdom nestled on the corner of the Kansas State campus one afternoon earlier this week. To the side, six long flats of purple stadium bleachers, six rows of seating apiece hug a wall. Nearby, stacks of white hurdles with "Wildcats" written in purple script edge against the 200-meter, 6-lane oval, permanent banked track with Mondo's Super X 720 surface.
About 50 yards away, in the infield, a track and field athlete practices a high jump and another darts down a track to execute a pole vault, as a 47-year-old man donned in a black track suit walks across the track, trying his best to conceal a grin, as he makes his way toward an awaiting white director's chair.
"It's brutal outside, man, isn't it?" says Travis Geopfert, the second-year K-State Director of Track and Field, referring to the -16 degree windchill sweeping through the parking lot and the blanket of heavy snowfall that hit Manhattan over the weekend. "We gotta keep this place warm."
K-State track and field has never been hotter.
On a historic day for the K-State men's track and field program, K-State opened ranked No. 3 in the nation in the men's indoor poll released by USTFCCCA on Tuesday. The women's track and field team start out at No. 34 in the indoor poll.
"We're going to focus on the process, but we're trying to win," Geopfert says. "We're trying to win on both the men's and women's sides. The first line of defense of any program is trying to win conference championships. The Big 12 isn't easy. The Texas Tech men's team is tough, and they've won how many in a row, but we're trying to win. There's no doubt.
"On the women's side, it's BYU and Texas Tech that we're definitely battling. It's going to be a dog fight on both sides. It's going to be a straight up dog fight on both sides. We might win or we might not win, but we're sure as hell going to try."
Geopfert was a four-time National Assistant Coach of the Year during two stints at Arkansas across 12 years with 22 total years of experience also at Tennessee, Northern Iowa and Central Missouri. At Arkansas with the men's team, Geopfert was a part of two NCAA Championship teams in 2013 and 2023 and 21 top-10 NCAA team finishes and 25 SEC Championships.
"The NCAA Championships is freaking hard," Geopfert says. "It's freaking hard to win that meet. I've been fortunate to be on a couple teams that have won it, but it's extremely difficult to win that meet. But we at K-State, we're not going to lay down. These kids are bought in, there's excitement generating around the program, and they believe they can win. As coaches, we believe they can win. I'm not going to guarantee a national title. I'm not that silly.
"But I can guarantee we're going to try."
The Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track should be ablaze on Friday. That's when the DeLoss Dodds Invitational heats up and will feature some of the best of the best in NCAA track and field. Oklahoma, Baylor, Air Force, Kansas and Iowa State are bringing their entire teams to compete in the two-day event. USC and Stanford are bringing their jumpers and Purdue is bringing a few athletes to compete as well.
The DeLoss Dodds Invitational will serve as part of the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Tour featuring six field events showcasing the sport's best athletes, including Olympians, World Championship Medalists and NCAA All-Americans. Fans will be invited to bring their lawn chairs and sit in the infield of the track to get an up-close appreciation for the competitors, who will compete from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday.
That's plenty big. And it's also unheard of.
"To my knowledge, a meet like this with opening up the infield, and having select events, has never been done in the United States," Geopfert says. "I have never seen something like this in indoor track, where you literally open up the infield and let everybody get right next to the runways — I've never seen it. We'll have fans sitting in the middle of the indoor track, five feet away from the runway, sitting close enough to get sprayed by the sand, and they can really get a vibe for how high 7-feet, 8-inches is in the high jump. Seeing it all up close and personal, feeling the energy and excitement, it's going to be a really cool experience.
"With the World Athletics Tour, you can get points in terms of world rankings, and it's a certified meet for world-rankings points for both the men's and women's long jump, the men's high jump, the women's pole vault, and the men's and women's triple jump. We're condensing those events into a two-hour window and are streaming it live on Trackwired, a YouTube channel, and it's going to go global. There will be people all over the world watching this meet in Manhattan, Kansas."
The World Athletics Indoor Tour is a World Athletics/USATF sanctioned competition. Although this meet will be conducted under NCAA rules, it will also be sanctioned by World Athletics and USATF to be compliant with the qualification requirements for both USATF Championships and World Athletics Championships. Results will be reported to both TFRRS and to World Athletics/USATF.
Spectators will be invited to stand an arm's length from the action. The facility's banked track will be open for fans to experience the competition up close. In addition to a large list of internationally recognized athletes, the event will spotlight a few K-State student-athletes who will be going up against the world's best. It includes two Kansas natives stepping into the global spotlight as Alan Hanna of Maize and Devin Loudermilk of Howard will line up against 2024 Paris Olympic Silver Medalist Shelby McEwen and fellow 2024 Olympic High Jump Finalist Romaine Beckford and Brian Raats.
"I'm pumped, dude," Geopfert says. "It was interesting. Last night, I could hardly sleep because of that intentional focus of the week and so many things we had to get done early this week in preparation for it and getting the team ready for it. I'm excited. Just like I'm about to tell the team in the meeting today, let's focus on the process."
For K-State track and field, Friday and Saturday is a part of the process on a state-of-the-art indoor track that is up there with the best in the country. The track, named on October 25, 2024, after Cliff Rovelto, the former Director of Track and Field/Cross Country who retired after 36 years, features Mondo's Super X 720 surface, which provides the optimal blend of energy return, comfort, safety and durability for everything from daily training to the toughest competitions. An 8-lane sprint straightaway, a pole vault lane, two long jump/triple jump lanes, throw areas, a 4-lane warm-up straightaway and non-competition areas around the track also showcase Mondo's surface. The competition surfaces, as well as the warm-up lanes, are in a shade of purple Mondo custom created for the program.
In a typical year, K-State hosts multiple indoor events, including the DeLoss Dodds Invitational and the Steve Miller Invitational.
"We've proven it with hosting meets already and with this facility that this is a great place to jump," Geopfert says. "We had a 3:55 mile and a 7:39 3K, we're starting to prove it on that front that the track is fast. Now we need to create an unbelievable atmosphere to prove it more in the sprints and in some of the other track events. Once we prove it, we're going to get more teams to come here. We're pushing really hard. The track is fast. They built an unbelievable track here. Now we have to show that we have the atmosphere that's conducive for big-time meets.
"We're gaining steam with those other college teams. Once we show that this place can host an unbelievable event from an experience standpoint and fast-track standpoint, we're going to host some big-time meets here in Manhattan, Kansas."
Currently, K-State and its men's No. 3 national ranking, isn't just on the map, rather it's near the top of the map, in the world of NCAA Track and Field.
"One thing we're going to talk about in our team meeting today is when you overcome adversity, you focus on the process," Geopfert says. "When you have challenging things in life, you focus on the process. When you have success, you focus on the process and on what you have to do next to continue to get better and to continue to perform. No matter what we accomplish, there's always somebody working just as hard that's trying to beat us. We have to focus on the process. I'm proud of this team because it is a team. These kids have bought in and what is largely an individual sport, these kids and our coaches and support staff have created a really positive team atmosphere where they're now competing for something that's bigger than themselves. They're competing for a program that's going to be in the mix to win stuff.
"Our team rankings are pretty high. Our men are No. 3, and our women are heading toward the Top 25, and we haven't shown all our cards yet."
He pauses.
"But we're going to show some more cards this weekend."
Players Mentioned
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference at West Virginia
Wednesday, January 28
K-State Men's Basketball | Shootaround with Taj Manning
Tuesday, January 27
K-State Men's Basketball | Game Replay vs KU - January 24, 2026
Tuesday, January 27
K-State Men's Basketball | PJ Haggerty, Taj Manning Postgame Press Conference (KU)
Sunday, January 25
