When Jim Barnard found out he won Kansas girls cross country coach of the year, he said it might have been better suited for one of the last two years when the team had more sustained success across the season.  

But the fact this past season saw a rare three-peat state championship shows exactly why the award went his way. 

Barnard was selected by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as the 2023 Girls High School Cross Country Coach of the Year for Kansas.

Despite being a competitive person, Barnard said he doesn’t coach to win races or awards, but rather to share something that has been a part of his life for 40 years.

“I feel like I have a lot to share with them,” Barnard said, “A lot of stories I like to share, a lot of history. I’ve learned a lot in my years, just running for people and then running for myself and training myself. I just feel like I have a lot to give back to the kids, and I just want them to be the best that they can be.”

Barnard has coached cross country for nearly two decades, with the most recent seven years in Eudora. He led the girls team to its third straight team state title last fall. 

He said he gets to coach a wide range of students, both hyper-competitive runners and casual beginners. Both offer the chance to try and fulfill his main coaching goal.

“My goal is always to create lifelong runners,” Barnard said. “…I feel strongly about that, that I want students to have a passion for running and to enjoy it.”

That’s not always an easy task. Barnard said people oftentimes view running as punishment rather than pleasure. Creating an environment that can start to shift that idea isn’t an exact science, but it starts with getting everybody, from state champion to junior varsity freshmen, involved. 

“They’re having a hand in the success of the team,” Barnard said. “The varsity team that wins state, they’re the, if you want to say, the tip of the iceberg, but there’s a lot of the iceberg that you don’t see, and they’re all part of that.”

One of those runners on the tip of the iceberg is senior Sydney Owens, who won the individual state championship last fall. She said Barnard is special because of the little things he does that add up to creating a successful team. 

“It’s really well deserved for him,” Owens said. “He puts in a lot of work and a lot of extra time for us.”

Owens is far from the only runner to find success under Barnard. Junior Hanna Keltner has found her own share of success on the course, and credited much of it to the belief that Barnard has always had in her. 

“That man cares so much about the sport of cross country and the art of running,” Keltner said. “One thing I love about coach Barnard is his belief that you can do hard things. Coach Barnard has given me some of the hardest workouts of my life and even when I thought I couldn’t do it, Mr. Barnard believed I could.”

Keltner still has one more year with Barnard before graduating but said she wished she could train with him forever. 

Athletic Director Cara Kimberlin was not surprised when she received the news of Barnard’s award. 

“To win one state championship is incredible,” Kimberlin said. “But to win multiple, let alone three in a row, in any sport, puts him in a category of elite coaches.”

When Barnard applied to become the cross country coach back in 2017, Kimberlin said she felt lucky to have him in Eudora. Kimberlin praised Barnard’s work to create a program where all types of runners can thrive. 

“He was bringing a new philosophy to our program and that was: not all runners are the same,” Kimberlin said. “You can’t get the most out of every runner if you ask them all to do the same workout. They are each different and their workouts will vary. He took that philosophy and essentially built a summer workout for each runner.”

Barnard didn’t want to take much credit for his award, repeating he was grateful for the runners and colleagues who made the team’s success possible. But Kimberlin said much of the credit should fall at his feet.

“He has been blessed with some outstanding athletes, both on the boys and girls teams,” Kimberlin said. “A good coach will help those kids achieve goals, but a great coach will push them to overachieve. That is what coach Barnard has done with our athletes, pushed them and prepared them to overachieve.”

Reach reporter Cuyler Dunn at [email protected] 

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