RCW: From the office of ... Michael Whittlesey

NCAA Cross Country Louisville Slugger
As a gift for their teams advancing to the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championships held in Louisville, Kentucky, the cross country coaches were gifted a miniature Louisville Slugger bat.

KU distance and cross country assistant coach Michael Whittlesey keeps this bat in plain view to remind him of the memorable season that ensued in the fall of 2015. He helped guide the Jayhawk women’s squad to its first appearance at the NCAA Championships in more than 20 years that season and oversaw the rise of Sharon Lokedi, who became the second KU female to earn All-America status in cross country while the team tallied the highest Jayhawk finish ever at the national meet, claiming 10th.

The bat is a keepsake that Whittlesey will cherish as a reminder of how far the women’s program has come under his guidance and a benchmark of where he hopes to keep it for many years to come.