By TODD MOORE
Barton Sports Info
Megan Besecker of the Barton Community College volleyball team has been named to the 2024 Thirty Under 30 award list as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).
Recognizing the top thirty coaches across all levels around the country under the age of 30, Besecker was just one of two NJCAA coaches to receive the award this year in being joined by Northeastern Junior College's Mackenzie Chrisman.
Leading the Cougars last season to its first KJCCC title since 2011, Besecker was named the KJCCC/Region 6 Coach of the Year and has the squad rolling again in her second season at the helm.
Now 23-1 overall and ranked No. 5 in the country, Besecker has the Cougars atop the standings at 10-0 setting up a key conference battle tonight at the Barton Gym hosting No. 8 Colby Community College in a 6:00 p.m. first serve.
Besecker built her initial campaign with a talented group of freshmen to compliment a limited number of returning starters. Picked 8th in the KJCCC's pre-season coaches poll, Besecker led the squad to a two-match cushion for the league title finishing at 13-3 after winning twelve straight including seven in straight sets. The team's bid to add a Region/District title fell short in the semifinals to conclude the season at 25-6 overall.
Barton swept the All-KJCCC/Region VI post-season top accolades including Besecker's coaching award and Phoebe Reyes' leading six of the squad's honorees in being named both the Freshman of the Year and the Most Valuable Player. Joining Reyes on the First Team were Kassidy Nixon and Anna Wierzbicki with Clara Lindstrom, the lone sophomore on the list, landing on the Second Team while Elena Stankovic and Mya Thompson garnered Honorable Mention distinction.
Before becoming Barton's 16th coach in now going into the program's 45th season, Besecker previously served as an assistant coach for the 2022 NJCAA Division I Volleyball National Champion Buccaneers of Florida Southwestern College under Thais Baziquetto-Allen, a 2017 AVCA Thirty Under 30 recipient and her former high school coach who then guided Seward County Community College for three seasons prior to FSW.
A Liberal, Kansas, native, Besecker played at Garden City Community College and Tougaloo College (MS), entering the coaching ranks as Head Coach at Liberal High School before moving up to the college ranks as an assistant at NCAA Division II Emporia State University.