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| The 2007-08
academic year is Tom Rutledge's 19th as head men's cross country/track & field
coach at Missouri Southern. He has led the Lions to seven MIAA cross country
championships (2000-03, 2005-07) and two MIAA Indoor Track & Field championships
(2004, 2007) nine championships in eight years. His MSSU cross country team has made seven team appearances in the last eight years at the NCAA Division II Championships, always finishing in the top twenty but highlighted by a sixth-place national finish in 2000 and a seventh-place showing in 2002. For his efforts, Rutledge was named MIAA Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007 and Indoor Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2007. Rutledge was also honored as South Central Region Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year in 1999, 2004 and 2007, as well as Cross Country Regional Coach of the Year in 2007 for his contributions to the sports. Rutledge has mentored five cross country All-Americans and 26 in track & field, several of the 26 achieving multiple All-American status. He has had numerous student-athletes earn academic awards, both on the conference and national levels. In 2005, the pole vaulters took the top 5 positions in the MIAA Outdoor Conference and took the top three finishes at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships, a rarely achieved accomplishment for one school. Rutledge became head cross country coach in 1989 when Southern first developed its men's and women's teams. Prior to that he had served as offensive line coach and special team coordinator for the Lions during the 1988 season. Prior to joining the staff at Southern, Rutledge spent one year as an assistant football coach at Fort Lewis College (Colo.), after spending two years as women's cross country and track coach and assistant football coach at Adams State College. (Colo.). At Adams State, he led the cross country squad to a fourth-place finish in the 1985 NAIA championships, followed by a third-place national showing in 1986. He was named District Coach of the Year in 1985. From 1980-85, Rutledge served as head cross country and track coach and assistant football coach at Arkansas Tech, where he led the Wonderboys to five top-three conference finishes and five top-15 national finishes. He was also twice named conference coach of the year. An assistant professor of kinesiology, Rutledge received a bachelor's degree in physical education and social studies from Ouachita Baptist University in 1974 and a master's degree in physiology of exercise from Henderson State University in 1976. Tom is most proud of his efforts to bring track and field to the four state area. In the last eighteen years Tom has served as meet director for three national cross country championships (AAU and NCAA). These events have brought thousands of athletes and spectators to Joplin and nearly 2 million dollars of revenue to the community. The annual cross country Southern Stampede brings over two thousand athletes, alone, to Joplin each year. It is one of the largest cross country meets in the country. Tom is married to Karen, a local State Farm Agent. They have two sons, Chad and Kyle. Chad and his wife Becky and granddaughter Morgan and grandson Ethan, live in Salt Lake City, and Kyle is a graduate student and current assistant coach for the MSSU Lions track and field team. He is also a former All-American pole vaulter for Southern.
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