Inaugural Winners of Excellence in Communications Award Announced for XC

NEW ORLEANS – Kevin Jenison of Indiana State, Bob Guptill of the GNAC and Kirk Reynolds of Pomona-Pitzer were announced Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as the winners of its inaugural Excellence in Communications Awards for cross country.

The USTFCCCA Excellence in Communications Award recognizes those athletics communications representatives at schools and conferences who have committed to excellent coverage and support of collegiate cross country. Winners were selected by the USTFCCCA National Office.

This award is its inaugural edition for cross country; the first winners were selected for track & field in June. Check out the three NCAA winners below.

Division I

Kevin Jenison of Indiana State has met our standards of excellence in two different realms.

First, he’s done an outstanding job promoting the Indiana State cross country teams. His timely recaps and previews have always gone above and beyond simple rehashing. And he attracted and coordinated local media attention for ISU star runner John Mascari. The junior is a Terre Haute native, and Jenison expertly played up the local angle.

Most importantly, though, Jenison’s role in disseminating information and supporting the media at the Pre-National and NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship meets was exemplary. Any fan of the sport knows that if a meet is being hosted by Indiana State, there are certain things that can be taken for granted. Among those are quick and accurate live results, well-attended and organized press conferences, easily found information about the logistics of the meet, and entry lists posted days before the meet itself.

Meets at Indiana State are never a mystery. We have Kevin Jenison to thank for that.

"I am so pleased that Kevin is being awarded the USTFCCCA Excellence in Communications Award. Kevin is a key cog in our NCAA Meet Local Organizing Committee, as he’s worked tirelessly to help us efficiently conduct those championships. He is truly an unsung hero," said Indiana State cross country coach John Gartland

Division II

Bob Guptill of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference is the Division II winner. The quality clips in Guptill’s nominations–he was the only person in all three divisions to get nominated multiple times–are endless.

Those clips include weekly reports, meet recaps, and meet previews. Beyond his (excellent) writing, though, Guptill has turned the GNAC cross country site into a highly useful resource. As any veteran of perusing conference websites can tell you, accessibility and amounts of information vary wildly. The site Guptill has built is as good as any in the country, containing historical information, reports on the current season, and, perhaps unmatched by any other conference XC site in the NCAA, recruiting updates.

"There are many things that make Bob so good at what he does," Seattle Pacific’s Assistant Sports Information Director Mark Moschetti said in a nomination for Guptill. "Among the most significant are these two: This isn’t just a job to him. It’s a passion. That can’t be said about everyone in this business. He believes in detail and getting it right."

"Bob also is a big believer in real content, whether it’s weekly conference notes or previews and recaps of each team’s season for the conference meet program," Moschetti continued. "Simply put, there are things that not everyone does anymore, and Bob not only continues to do it, he continues to do it well. Communication is more — way more — than just tweets or blogs or Facebook or InstaGram or Pintrest — and Bob absolutely gets that."

Guptill is no stranger to accolades for his work. While working as the Central Washington sports information director, he received the NAIA’s Clarence “Ike” Pearson Award, which is presented annually to an outstanding NAIA sports information director.

He’s in his 13th year as the GNAC information director.

Division III

Kirk Reynolds, women’s track and cross country coach at Pomona Pitzer since 1989, is the Division III winner. Speaking from experience, it is virtually impossible to make any kind of historical reference in an article about DI or DIII cross country without accessing the wonderful archives that Kirk has built for both divisions.

Those archives–an unparalled resource for historical information on collegiate cross country–were built while Reynolds was still working at his full-time job. As the head coach of women’s cross country and track & field at Pomona Pitzer, Reynolds has been named regional coach of the year twice and conference coach of the year eight times.

The existence of the archives facilitates the work of communications professionals across the country. They are aesthetically appealing and and easily accessible.

In a sport where information from the pre-internet era can be hard to come by, Reynolds has made detailed statistics dating back to 1938 widely available to writers and fans. That’s the essence of excellence in communications. And it was achieved while working full-time as a coach.