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Patty
Vavra
Head Women's Cross Country Coach 11th Year at Missouri Southern |
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| Now in her 11th year as head women's track
and field and cross country coach, Patty Vavra has seen several Lions
achieve national recognition for their efforts. Her crowning moment,
serving as mentor for the 1998 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics
Association Cross Country Champions, earned Vavra recognition as MIAA
Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
During her tenure, Vavra has coached two cross country All-Americans, eight cross country All-Region performers, and two MIAA cross country champions. She has also coached one track & field national champion and 17 All-Americans. Under Vavra, Missouri Southern's track and cross country athletes have also had their share of success in the classroom, as more than 30 have earned Academic All-MIAA recognition, and six have been named to Academic All-District and All-America teams. In 2004, Vavra's indoor squad captured the school's first ever MIAA indoor championship and, for her efforts, she was named South Central Region Indoor Coach of the Year. Vavra's 2003 women's cross country squad turned in one of the best seasons in school history, finishing second at the MIAA Championships and second in the South Central Region en route to the team's first-ever national championships appearance. Vavra spent 14 years as boys and girls cross country and girls track coach at Carthage (Mo.) High School. Southern alumni and friends also remember Vavra from her days as a Southern student-athlete, as she was all-conference in basketball and in track, where she competed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and hurdles. A 1993 inductee into the Missouri Southern Athletics Hall of Fame, Vavra graduated cum laude from Missouri Southern in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and health, and from Pittsburg State University in 1983 with a master's degree in physical education. In addition to her coaching duties, she is also an instructor of kinesiology. |
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