The Rovelto File

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Hometown: Ancon, Panama
Education: Kansas '78

COACHING HISTORY

1992-Present: Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
1988-1992: K-State Assistant Coach
1987-1988: University of Kansas Interim Head Coach
1983-1987: University of Kansas Assistant Coach

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Four-Time Big 12 Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Big 12 Champions (2001, 2002, 2017, 2018)

Five-time Big 12 Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year (2001, 2002, 2017, 2018, 2019)

Team USA Assistant Coach at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics

Has personally coached 17 Olympians, 3 medalists, who have made a combined 22 Olympic appearances

Has coached 17 student-athletes to 21 NCAA Championships

Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame (2002)

Has coached 9 individuals to compete at World
Indoor Championships, combining for 14
Championships

Has coached 23 individuals to compete at World Outdoor Championships, combined for 34 total Championships

Has personally coached student-athletes to 222 All-American Certificates, including 152 First-Team All-Americans

Has coached 95 students-athletes to 187 individual Big 12 conference Championships

Has coached 42 USA National Champions, including 27 in the high jump

Since 1993, Coach Rovelto has coached 10 athletes who have ranked among the top-10 in the World in their respective events by Track and Field News on 33 occasions.

Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Cliff Rovelto enters his 31st season at the helm of the K-State’s track program and his 35th season at the school.

Rovelto has overseen 17 athletes to 21 NCAA Titles, most recently, Tejaswin Shankar (2022, 2018), Shardia Lawrence (2019), Christoff Bryan (2017), Kim Williamson (2016) and Akela Jones (2016). In 2018, the women’s track and field team won their fourth Big 12 Outdoor Conference Championship in program history and their second in as many years.

After the 2021 outdoor season, Rovelto coached Tejaswin Shankar to his second Big 12 Championship title in the high jump. Rovelto helped lead the Wildcats to a second place finish for the women's team and fourth place finish for the men's team at the Big 12 Championships hosted at R.V. Christian Track. 400 meter dash runner and 2024 alum, Shalysa Wray, made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, representing the Cayman Islands.

During the 2019 outdoor season, Rovelto led the Wildcat women to a program-record 156.5 points scored at the Big 12 Championship, which is the most by a Big 12 runner-up in the meet's history. The success of the women's team led to Rovelto's fifth Big 12 Outdoor Coach of the Year honor and his third straight, which is the most of any active coach in the Big 12 Conference and tied for second most all-time.

During the summer of 2016, Rovelto served as an assistant coach for the USA’s men’s track and field team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rovelto began his coaching career in 1979, coaching track and field at McLouth High School in Kansas. In his two years with the Bulldogs, he coached six state champions, five state record-holders and one high school All-American.

After two seasons with McLouth, he spent seven seasons at his alma mater, the University of Kansas. He served as a graduate assistant on the men’s team from 1981-83 before being named a full-time assistant and cross country coach for the women’s team in 1983.

In 1987, he was named interim head coach of the Kansas women’s team. He would go on to coach eight All-Americans and seven Big Eight champions during his time with the Jayhawks. He also saw 24 school records broken during his tenure. Rovelto came to K-State in 1988-89, as the assistant coach for the jumps and combined events.

He was named the head coach at Kansas State in November of 1992. Since then, Rovelto has personally coached 16 NCAA individual champions and has personally coached 195 All-Americans, including 133 first-team All-Americans, as well as 104 individual conference championships. In 1998, the women’s cross country team won its only title in program history. In the high jump alone, Kansas State has produced at least one All-American in 27 of the last 31 years, earning 69 All-American honors in the event during this time frame.

Rovelto’s success at Kansas State has also earned him recognition on an international scale.
Over his career, he has coached a total of 17 individuals, who have represented their countries at the Olympic Games 22 times, including gold medalist Erik Kynard and silver medalists Austra Skujyte and Matt Hemingway. He has also coached 23 individuals to compete in 35 Outdoor World Championships, while coaching 42 USA National Champions.

Rovelto served as the head coach of the U.S. Decathlon Team in dual meets with Germany in 1997 and 2003. He was also part of the Team USA staff at the 2002 IAAF World Cup in Madrid and was named to the U.S. coaching staff as a women’s assistant for the 2003 World Outdoor Championships in Paris. Rovelto also served as an assistant coach at the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

In 2005, he was assigned as women’s assistant for Team USA at the Outdoor World Championship in Helsinki, Finland. He served on the men’s staff for Team USA at the 2007 World Track & Field Championships in Osaka, Japan.

In 2010, he served as an assistant coach for the America’s team in Split, Croatia, for the IAAF Continental Cup. He was the USA head men’s coach at the Pan-America Games in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2011. In 2014 he served as an assistant coach for the Americas Team at the IAAF Continental Cup in Morocco.

Rovelto also served as the head coach for the USA Heptathlon team at the Thorpe Cup, an annual competition between the United States and Germany. In addition to his accolades, Rovelto’s most recent assignment was as an assistant coach for the 2016 Rio De Janeiro USA men’s Olympic team.

Coach Rovelto has also received numerous awards and recognitions for his successes on the track.

He is a nine-time Women’s Midwest Region Coach of the Year, the most recent coming in 2019. In 2001, he was recognized as the Women’s Outdoor National Coach of the Year. He was named Outdoor Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2001, 2002, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and the Indoor Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2015.

Rovelto assisted in writing the USATF coaching education curriculum for the combined events, as well as authoring numerous articles for professional journals. He has also authored videos on high jump, combined events, hurdles sprints and horizontal jumps.

He is a USA Coaching Education Level II and Level III instructor for the jumps and combined events and a USA Junior and Senior Development Clinician for the jumps and combined events. Rovelto has served as an IAAF Coaching School Clinician for the Combined Events and High Jump and has served as clinician/lecturer at numerous clinics/coaching schools throughout the world.

Rovelto is married to his wife Karol Rovelto, who serves as the director of operations and assistant track and field coach for the track and field and cross country teams. She was a professional high jumper and competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The couple lives in Manhattan.

Individual	Event - Place	Year
Steve Fritz	Decathlon - Fourth Place	1996
Ed Broxterman	High Jump	1996
Nathan Leeper	High Jump - 11th Place	2000
Attila Zsivoczky	Decathlon	2000
Shelia Burrell	Heptathlon	2000
Shelia Burrell	Heptathlon	2004
Austra Skujyte	Heptathlon	2004
Luiggy Llanos	Decathlon	2004
Jamie Nieto	High Jump - 4th Place	2004
Matt Hemingway	High Jump - Silver Medalist	2004
Tom Pappas	Decathlon	2008
Austra Skujyte	Heptathlon	2008
Jesse Williams	High Jump	2008
Jamie Nieto	High Jump - 6th Place	2012
Erik Kynard	High Jump - Silver Medalist	2012
Jesse Williams	High Jump - 9th Place	2012
Jeffrey Julmis	110 Meter Hurdles	2012
Sonata Tamosaityte	100 Meter Hurdles	2012
Alyx Treasure	High Jump	2016
Akela Jones	Heptathlon, High Jump	2016
Erik Kynard	High Jump - 6th Place	2016

Individual	Event	Year
Percell Gaskins	High Jump	1993 - Indoor
Nicole Green	400 Meters	1995 - Outdoor
Nathan Leeper	High Jump	1998 - Outdoor
Austra Skujyte	Heptathlon	2001 - Outdoor
Austra Skujyte	Heptathlon	2002 - Outdoor
Scott Sellers	High Jump	2007 - Outdoor
Scott Sellers	High Jump	2009 - Indoor
Scott Sellers	High Jump	2009 - Outdoor
Ryann Krais	Heptathlon	2011 - Outdoor
Erik Kynard	High Jump	2011 - Outdoor
Erik Kynard	High Jump	2012 - Outdoor
Akela Jones	Heptathlon	2015 - Outdoor
Akela Jones	High Jump	2016 - Indoor
Kim Williamson	High Jump	2016 - Outdoor
Christoff Bryan	High Jump	2017 - Outdoor
Tejaswin Shankar	High Jump	2018 - Outdoor

List of Conference Champions Coached by Rovelto

Women
#	Name	Class	Pos	Hometown
	Sydney Burton	Jr.		Abilene, Kan.
	Jessica Caraway	So.		Urbandale, Iowa
	Alex Ferguson	Sr.		Topeka, Kan.
	Helen Giefer	R-So.		Wakeeney, Kan.
	Macy Heinz	Sr.		Ipswich, S.D.
	Kassidy Johnson	R-Sr.		Wichita, Kan.
	Katie Kasunic	Jr.		Overland Park, Kan.
	Delaney Kemp	Jr.		Shawnee, Kan.
	Emma Lucas	Jr.		Bedford, Iowa
	Alexa Rios	Fr.		Shawnee, Kan.
	Jaybe Shufelberger	Jr.		Topeka, Kan.
	Cailan Steward	Jr.		Andover, Kan.
	Hannah Stewart	Jr.		Lawrence, Kan.

Coaching Staff
Image	Name	Title	Email	Phone Number
	Cliff Rovelto	Director of Track and Field and Cross Country	crovelto@kstatesport.com	(785) 532-7071
	Randy Cole	Assistant Coach Cross Country/Distance	rcole@kstatesports.com	(785) 410-8424

Men
#	Name	Class	Pos	Hometown
	Christian Buehler	So.		Olathe, Kan.
	Will Carroll	So.		Lake Winnebago, Mo.
	Kerby Depenbusch	R-Jr.		Great Bend, Kan.
	Ryan Derry	So.		Bel Aire, Kan.
	Alex Gutierrez	Fr.		Eden Prairie, Minn.
	Matthew Hauser	Fr.		Columbia, Mo.
	Tommy Hazen	Fr.		Overland Park, Kan.
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	Aiden Higgerson	So.		Prairie Village, Kan.
	Travis Hodge	5th		DeSoto, Kan.
	Kyle Johnston	Jr.		Lexington, Ohio
	Stephen Kielhofner	Sr.		Springfield, Mo.
	David Lutgen	R-Jr.		Beloit, Kan.
	Jack Moore	Jr.		Olathe, Kan.
	Mike Rohlinger	R-Jr.		White Bear Lake, Minn.
	Cooper Schroeder	Sr.		Manhattan, Kan.
	Hadley Splechter	Jr.		Yates Center, Kan.
	Noah Stevenson	5th		Merriam, Kan.
	Carson Sturdy	Fr.		De Soto, Kan.
	Jack Vincent	So.		Claremore, Okla.

Upcoming Events

2021 Cross Country Roster

Sydney Burton

Jessica Caraway

Alex Ferguson

Helen Giefer

Macy Heinz

Kassidy Johnson

Katie Kasunic

Delaney Kemp

Emma Lucas

Alexa Rios

Jaybe Shufelberger

Cailan Steward

Hannah Stewart

Christian Buehler

Will Carroll

Kerby Depenbusch

Ryan Derry

Alex Gutierrez

Matthew Hauser

Tommy Hazen

Aiden Higgerson

Travis Hodge

Kyle Johnston

Stephen Kielhofner

David Lutgen

Jack Moore

Mike Rohlinger

Cooper Schroeder

Hadley Splechter

Noah Stevenson

Carson Sturdy

Jack Vincent

Cliff Rovelto

Randy Cole