FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Fort Hays State women's basketball student-athlete Katie Wagner DeGarmo repeated as the MIAA Women's Ken B. Jones Award winner, presented by Summit Pointe Financial Group, on Monday at the MIAA Awards Celebration in Kansas City, Mo. The Ken B. Jones Award recognizes the MIAA's top female and male student-athletes from the academic year, combining an individual's athletic, academic and service accomplishments.
DeGarmo was one of five women's finalists for the award invited on-site at the annual awards celebration in Kansas City, where she was announced as the winner once again. Myles Menges of FHSU football was one of the five male finalists for the award, which went to Tyler Kahmann of Emporia State.
A 15-member panel of athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors - including a representative from each member institution – vote to create the group of finalists, and then vote again on the final five for each gender. Each nominee is judged in three areas, including 2024-25 athletic accomplishments, career academic accomplishments and 2024-25 campus/community service.
DeGarmo is the fourth women's student-athlete in the history of the award to repeat as winner and the first to do so since Natalie O'Keefe of Southwest Baptist in 2017. She joins Deandra Doubrava of Emporia State (track and field/volleyball, 1997 and 1999), Lindsay Lettow of Central Missouri (track and field, 2011 and 2012) and O'Keefe (track and field/basketball, 2016 and 2017). There has been only one male repeat winner of the award, that being Brian Moorman of Pittsburg State football who went on to a successful career in the NFL, in 1998 and 1999. Levi Wyrick of Pittsburg State (football/track and field) and Ryan Stanley of Fort Hays State (track and field) each have the distinction of winning a Ken B. Jones Award and being a seasonal Student-Athlete of the year when sports seasons were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.
Ken B. Jones Award History can be found HERE.
DeGarmo had another elite year in her storied basketball career at Fort Hays State, averaging 17.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. She was the MIAA Player of the Year for a second-straight season, the first to repeat for that honor since 2003, then raked in All-America honors from both the WBCA (first team) and D2CCA (third team). She was an All-MIAA First Team selection for the third-straight year and a four-time all-conference selection overall. DeGarmo broke both the FHSU and MIAA records for rebounds in a career with 1,248 and she finished her career second all-time in scoring at both FHSU and in the MIAA with 2,299 points. The Tigers played in the NCAA Tournament for a fourth time in her five-year career and helped the program continue its NCAA Division II-leading streak of 14 straight years with at least 20 wins. It was the ninth time in the last 11 seasons FHSU reached the NCAA Tournament.
DeGarmo rewrote the MIAA Tournament record book as the new career leader in scoring (227 points), rebounds (117), field goals made (88), and field goals attempted (182) at the event. She tied the records for double-doubles in points and rebounds (5) games played (14). For a career at FHSU, she also ranks first in field goal attempts (1,830) and second in field goals made (865), free throws made (512), free throws attempted (661), and steals (236). She is fourth in FHSU history for assists (408).
Academically, DeGarmo was a three-time CSC Academic All-District selection, a four-time recipient of the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, and five-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll. She was named a CSC Academic All-America selection in 2025, one of only 16 players nationally to receive the honor which combines athletic and academic performance. Ten of the 16 CSC Academic All-America selections this year were performance All-America selections by either the WBCA or D2CCA. DeGarmo held a perfect 4.0 GPA in her graduate studies and graduated in the spring of 2025 with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. Her first degree was in Accounting when she graduated magna cum laude back in December of 2023 with a 3.87 GPA.
Back in 2024, DeGarmo was nominated for the Accounting Student of the Year by the FHSU Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting. She was also nominated and selected by accounting faculty for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship following her December 2023 graduation. She also held a summer accounting/analyst internship at Koch industries in Wichita.
DeGarmo served on a leadership team for Encounter Young Adults, a Christian ministry affiliated with Celebration Community Church. She was a volunteer for the annual Night to Shine event in Hays, honoring individuals in the community with special needs, and a volunteer at Bethesda Place, which is a residential community for individuals with disabilities. For the second-straight year, DeGarmo and teammates from women's basketball partnered with Team IMPACT, a non-profit organization matching children with serious illness and disabilities with college sports teams. She also helped instruct and facilitate during the Tigers for IDD Sports and Fitness Night, hosted by FHSU student-athletes for local Special Olympic athletes. The NCAA chose Fort Hays State as a finalist for the 2025 Division II Award of Excellence for that event.
Two of Fort Hays State's three winners of the Ken B. Jones award have been women's basketball student-athletes, which includes Kate Lehman (2015) and DeGarmo (2024, 2025). Lehman (now Bremerman) was also honored Monday night, along with FHSU track and field athlete Darcie Schmitz (now Riordan) at the celebration as one of 11 MIAA Hall of Fame inductees for 2025. Ryan Stanley (track and field) was the only male from FHSU to win the award back in 2023, so DeGarmo gave FHSU a winner of this prestigious award for a third-straight year.
Each institution may nominate one female and one male student-athlete for the Ken B. Jones Award. The nominees must have completed at least their junior season of athletic eligibility by June 1 of the academic year of nomination. A nominee must have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade-point average through the previous full semester term through February 1 of the academic year of nomination at the certifying member institution.
Fort Hays State has had 20 finalists for the Ken B. Jones Award or season-specific student-athlete of the year honors since joining the MIAA in 2006-07. FHSU has had at least one finalist for each of the last 13 awards given since 2014-15.