Men's Track and Field | 6/8/2026 5:42:00 PM

The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) is proud to announce the renaming of the NJCAA Men's Program of the Year award in honor of Harry Kitchener, a legendary NJCAA track and field coach who won two national championships and turned Cloud County Community College into a consistent national title contender.

Kitchener spent 48 years at Cloud County where he built one of the premier programs in NJCAA history. During his tenure, the T-Birds won twenty consecutive Prairie Junior College Conference championships, seventeen Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference - West Division championships, and eight Region 6 championships. Kitchener led the T-Birds to its first-ever NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in 2019. Kitchener was named that year's Region 6 Men's Coach of the Year, Central Region Coach of the Year, and NJCAA Men's Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Kitchener also led Cloud County to a NJCAA Half Marathon National Championship in 2004.

A member of both the Cloud County Athletics Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Kitchener coached more than 50 NJCAA national champions and nearly 350 All-Americans during his decorated career.