FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Fort Hays State's Katie Wagner (women's basketball) was selected as a finalist for the annual Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association's Ken B. Jones Award, presented by Summit Pointe Financial Group, announced Tuesday (May 21) by the conference office. The annual award recognizes the conference's male and female student-athletes of the year.
Wagner and the nine other finalists will be recognized at the 2024 MIAA Awards Celebration, presented by Husch Blackwell, on Monday, June 3 in the Music Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center. The 2023-24 female and male Ken B. Jones winners will be announced during the event as well. Former FHSU softball student-athlete Maddie Holub will be going inducted in the MIAA Hall of Fame that evening at the awards celebration.
Wagner is coming off a tremendous season on the basketball court in 2023-24 that saw her earn MIAA Player of the Year honors. She was also an All-America selection by the WBCA, an All-Central Region First Team selection by D2CCA, an All-MIAA First Team and MIAA All-Defensive Team selection, and was named the MIAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player when selected to the MIAA All-Tournament Team. For the season, Wagner averaged 17.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, recording 14 double-doubles. She scored in double figures in 30 of the 33 games on the season and never had less than eight points in a game. She now ranks fourth all-time in scoring at FHSU with 1,732 points and second in rebounds with 965. With a COVID year of athletic eligibility still in hand, Wagner will return for a fifth and final season at Fort Hays State in 2024-25.
Wagner helped Fort Hays State to its 13th-consecutive season of reaching at least 20 wins, the longest active streak in NCAA Division II and tied for sixth-longest for all NCAA levels in women's basketball. She helped the Tigers to their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 10 years and ninth overall. Wagner helped the Tigers earn a win in the opening round of the national tournament before falling to eventual national champion Minnesota State in the Central Regional Semifinal. The Tigers finished the season at 25-8 overall.
Overall, Wagner is a three-time All-MIAA selection, earning first-team honors each of the last two seasons and a second-team honor in 2021-22. Academically, she is a two-time CSC Academic All-District selection, two-time recipient of the D2ADA Academic Achievement Award, three-time recipient of the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, and four-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll.\
Wagner graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor's degree in Accounting in December of 2023 with a cumulative GPA of 3.87. She holds a 4.0 GPA so far in graduate school, working on a master's in Business Administration. She was nominated for Accounting Student of the Year by the FHSU Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting in 2024. Wagner was nominated and selected by accounting faculty for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship following her December 2023 graduation. Back in the summer of 2023, she completed an accounting/analyst internship at Koch Industries in Wichita, Kansas, where she learned and developed new skills through hands-on experience in the accounting profession, including creating a new deferred revenue schedule for the business she supported.
Wagner has also been very active in the community and on campus aside from her time on the court and in the classroom. In April of 2024, she was selected by the MIAA to attend NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in Bethesda, Maryland. She has been a volunteer at the Hays Night to Shine event, the regional Special Olympics Basketball Tournament, and an adaptive field day for individuals in the community with special needs. Along with members of the FHSU women's basketball team she partnered with Team Impact, which matches children facing serious illnesses and disabilities with college sports teams. She is also an engaged member of Encounter Young Adults, a Christian ministry affiliated with Celebration Community Church.
Myles Menges was Fort Hays State's male nominee for the Ken B. Jones Award in 2023-24. Menges was an All-MIAA Second Team selection in 2023, earning the third All-MIAA honor of his career. He graduated with his bachelor's degree in May of 2023 in Sports Management/Recreation and has been working on his master's in Sports Administration. He is also a two-time CSC Academic All-District and three-time MIAA Scholar-Athlete at FHSU. He has also been active away from the football field and classroom as a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), a mentor for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ellis County, and a volunteer for Night to Shine, Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, and Kansas Kids' Fitness Day.
Fort Hays State has now had 18 Ken B. Jones Award finalists since joining the MIAA in 2006-07. Three Tigers have earned the conference's top honor, including Ryan Stanley (2020-21 spring and 2023), Whitney Randall (2020-21 winter) and Kate Lehman (2014-15). FHSU has had at least one finalist for each of the last 12 awards (since 2014-15).Each institution may nominate one female and one male student-athlete. The nominees must have completed at least their junior season of athletics 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.
A 15-member panel of athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors - including a representative from each member institution - select the finalists. Each nominee is judged in three areas, including 2023-24 athletic accomplishments, career academic accomplishments, and 2023-24 campus/community service.
2023-24 Female Finalists
Melisa Becerra, Tennis – Nebraska-Kearney
Kate Dawson, Cross Country/Track & Field – Pittsburg State
Mackenzie Dimarco, Soccer – Emporia State
Kayla Goodwin, Track & Field – Central Missouri
Katie Wagner, Basketball – Fort Hays State
2023-24 Male Finalists
Wes Ferguson, Cross Country/Track & Field – Nebraska-Kearney
Braden Rose, Football/Track & Field – Washburn
Reece Smith, Cross Country/Track & Field – Northwest Missouri State
Mason Strader, Cross Country/Track & Field – Pittsburg State
Brennen van Breusegen, Baseball – Central Missouri