By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Troy Prosser has built a program in Richmond, a 2A town near the Missouri border. Since the Ellinwood native took over the Central Heights High School cross country programs in 2015, and the track and field teams in 2020, his teams and athletes have won numerous state championships. For the continued success, Prosser was recently named Kansas Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches Association Class 2A Boys Coach of the Year in both sports.
The road to the top has not been a given. Prosser trained his way into a successful high school and collegiate career, but he took over a struggling Central Heights program in 2015.
“The year before I took over in 2015, there were five kids on the team, and there hadn't been a state qualifier for several years,” he said. “The school had previously won state titles in boys cross country under the late John Schultze in 1988 and 1990. Building that first team was a lot of fun because they didn't know me, and I didn't know them since I was new to the school. Learning what worked and what didn't was extremely valuable for all of us.
“We had a single state cross country qualifier in Kyle Cardin that year. The boys team qualified in year two, were 3A state runners-up and only missed a state title by two points in year three. We won the state title in year four. In track, I was lucky enough to have almost all of those same kids, plus I coached Kinsey Laird to fifth and third-place finishes in the pole vault my first two years at Central Heights.”
Prosser made a name for himself on the track for Ellinwood High School, setting school records in the 100m (10.80) and 200m (22.10) dashes as a junior. He finished as state runner-up in both of those events and ran third in the 400m dash in 1997. He said growing up in Ellinwood played a key role in his life of running, and his reputation for speed started as early as kindergarten.
“The mom of one of my best friends still tells a story that when her son and I were in kindergarten, he came home from school the first day and she asked him if he made any new friends,” Prosser recalls. “He said, ‘Yeah, there is this boy named Troy, and he's really fast.’ I guess that kind of stuck.
“My parents were both sprinters, and my brother was a hurdler in high school, so I guess I got some of that fast twitch. I remember on the way back from church on Sunday mornings, my dad, brother, and I would race the last little bit to the house. I don't remember exactly when I finally beat both of them, but it seemed like racing and loving the feeling of top speed was always in me.”
Prosser missed the majority of his senior season of high school due to illness but still managed a third-place finish in the 200m dash at state. He won 200m league championships in all four years of high school.
“That was pretty cool because I really wasn't a favorite my freshman year but had a great race that kind of solidified my love for that distance,” he said.
That success landed him a scholarship at Ottawa University, where he competed from 1999-2003, mostly as a relay specialist. He cut his 200m time to 21.79 and his 400m time to 47.66, but most of his success came in the relays. In 2000, Prosser was on the 4x400m relay that posted a 3:17.06, a school record that still stands today. He was also a member of the 4x100m relay team that set a school record that was recently broken.
Prosser made running big part of his life from an early age. He’s proud to be sharing his love of the sport with the next generation.
“Running is human nature,” he said. “I tell all of my athletes exactly that. After we're born, we learn to crawl, then we learn to stand and walk on our own, and soon we start running. I don't know why we run, but we do. Maybe we get in a hurry, or we love the feeling of going fast, or we just have to keep up, but it really is the most natural and freeing experience you can have as an athlete.”
Prosser began competing at the age of eight. He runs for different reasons 36 years later – mostly chasing his athletes around the cross country course – but the sport has never left him.
“Five knee surgeries on the right knee and several doctors along the way telling me I shouldn't run anymore will catch up to me eventually, but I still have to show my athletes that it can be a lifelong love, and if I give all I have for them, they can do the same without worrying about the outcome,” said Prosser.
Prosser is earning the coaching accolades now, but that’s a byproduct of having his own coaches for nearly four decades. Prosser has taken something from each of them to develop his own style.
“I've run for some incredible coaches: Larry Drees, Jackie Cook, Jeff Tanner, and Monty Doll in high school; Kirk Wren and Robert Johnson in college, and I learned a ton from Lyles Lashley as well. Looking back, I was definitely influenced by their styles.”
In 2003, Coach Wren saw something else in Prosser and asked him to be an assistant cross country and track and field coach at Ottawa University.
“It was a no brainer,” Prosser said. “He made every single athlete feel important, made all of us a part of the OU Braves family. That opportunity gave me a bonus six years to be around him, learn from him, and coach the only women's cross country conference championship team in OU history. Being his assistant gave me belief that I might be able to instill that winning culture in future athletes.”
Perhaps Hemingway best describes Prosser’s success at Central Heights: gradually, then suddenly. His boys went from five runners in 2015 to a ninth-place finish in 2016 (3A), to the runner-up finish in 2017 (3A). With a move to Class 2A in 2018, Central Heights won the title that year, finished second in 2019 and 2020, then won two more titles in 2023 and 2024. Despite graduating several of the top runners in school history, the Vikings placed third in Class 2A last fall.
The girls have also progressed. Ellinwood claimed the Class 2A title in 2018, just as Central Heights freshman Lily Meyer and junior Madison Bridges earned a pair of all-state medals for Prosser. The Vikings placed third in 2019, fourth in 2021, fifth in 2024, and sixth in 2025. Two individuals claimed all-state medals in the 2023 season.
Since 2015, Prosser’s cross country teams have piled up 11 regional titles and three regional runner-up finishes. They’ve won 17 league championships between middle and high school, and his runners have earned a combined 1,577 medals.
Last spring, Prosser’s stable of track athletes put together some of the most dominating performances in Kansas history to win a 2A state championship. A 4-headed monster of Cody Hammond, Connor Burkdoll, Owen Miller, and Christian McCord scored 78 points in four events to make that happen.
In 2024, the boys helped the Vikings to an undefeated cross country season. The 34 points at state was a new record. That spring, the group posted a 7:57.31 4x800m relay, a 2A state meet record and the fastest Class 2A time in state history. Hammond posted a 1:52.57 in the 800m run to rank No. 15 all-time in Kansas. He won the cross country individual title, won golds in the 800m and 1600m runs, and set school records in three events. Burkdoll won the 3200m 2A title, and set school records in five events. Miller and Hammond ran behind Burkdoll in the 3200m run at state to complete the medal sweep for the Vikings.
“The reality is, I've been lucky enough to coach some incredibly talented athletes, so my job is to try my best to feed their strengths rather than constantly address weaknesses,” said Prosser. “I regularly lean on my own background as a sprinter and make speed a frequent focus no matter what events they are in. Having great assistant coaches has been a blessing too. Knowing they understand what we are trying to achieve as a program, and that they will also put kids into positions of success has been extremely necessary.
“Another huge part of it is constantly giving and getting feedback on how they are feeling, what I'm seeing, and adjusting workouts all the time. No matter how perfect our workout might look on paper before practice, there are an infinite number of factors that will require things to change every day.”
Losing a group of seniors like that can decimate a successful program, especially at the Class 2A level. The Vikings’ third-place cross country finish in 2025 is an example of how Prosser has established a program.
“Kids are the greatest recruiters and salesmen when it comes to sports success,” he said. “When you get one to buy in, they will get two more to follow, and it tends to multiply as more of them find their own voice and place in it all. Specifically as a running coach, the basis of it all has been this: I want them to enjoy doing this running thing for the rest of their lives. I have to make it fun first because, when they enjoy showing up, working hard becomes easier for everyone.
“We learn a lot about each other and ourselves - life lessons - from creating the habits that make us successful and finding meaning in difficult tasks. Being able to see this day after day, year after year is a testament to the ones that laid the work before.”