Pittsburg State track and field athletes Belle Peters and Dylan Sprecker are finalists for the MIAA’s Ken B. Jones Award.
The award, named after the conference’s first full-time commissioner, honors the league’s top female and male student-athletes. The nominees must have completed at least their junior season of eligibility by June 1 and have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade point average.
The selection committee ranks their choices on a weighted system – 50 percent for the year’s athletic accomplishments, 30 percent for career academic accomplishments and 20 percent for the year’s campus/community service.
The winners will be announced during the MIAA Awards Celebration on June 1 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
Peters, a senior from Lindsborg, Kan., was the pole vault champion for MIAA and NCAA Division II during the 2025-26 indoor season. Her top clearance this season – 14 feet, 6 inches, ranks No. 3 all-time on the NCAA Division II list and second-best in PSU history. She finished second at the 2026 MIAA Outdoor Championships and has qualified for this week’s D2 Outdoor Championships in Emporia, Kan.
Peters graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and is now pursuing her master’s degree in educational leadership with a 4.0 GPA. She has worked as a graduate teaching assistant for PSU and earned the program’s 2025 Graduate Teaching Award.
Peters has more than 100 hours volunteering as a track and field official for high school and junior college meets. She has volunteered 40 hours and raised $2,000 in scholarship funds the last two years working as a local car show fundraiser.
Sprecker is a decorated distance runner in the Gorillas’ cross country and track and field programs. This school year alone, he has been a six-time All-MIAA performer, a four-time MIAA individual champion, a two-time D2 indoor national champion and has set two PSU program records.
Sprecker, a junior from Gymsum, Kan., began the school year with a sixth-place finish at the MIAA cross country meet and a fifth-place finish at the Central Regional.
He was the MIAA Indoor Championships’ High Point Scorer with 22.5 points, winning two races and running on a first-place relay, and he won national titles in the mile and the distance medley relay.
At the conference outdoor meet, he won the 1500 meters and was second in the 5,000. He is entered in the 1500 in this week’s national meet at Emporia State.
Sprecker is a senior exercise science major with a 3.88 GPA. He volunteers as a coach with a local track club, Salina Burn. He volunteers at local high school track and field meets and is a Triffic Event volunteer, providing therapeutic recreational therapy for people with disabilities.
The other four female finalists are Central Oklahoma softball player Rylee Lemos, Fort Hays State cross country/track and field athlete Emily Diercks McCullough, Nebraska Kearney volleyball player Peyton Neff and Central Missouri golfer Mia Rallo.
The other male finalists are Emporia State football player Landon Boss, Nebraska Kearney wrestler Crew Howard, Central Oklahoma wrestler Gabe Johnson and Fort Hays State golfer Cooper Scheck.
