In August, Dana Handy was notified that she won the Kansas 6A girls track coach of the year, which is awarded by the Kansas Cross Country and Track Coaches Association. Handy has had 20 years of coaching experience, and she has been head coach at Maize high for six years.  

“I was very honored to be recognized by other coaches. But, we have been blessed with tremendous talent, so that makes coaching easy,” Handy said. “I do enjoy it [coaching], even though it is a lot of work and can also be stressful. I love to see the athletes improve and set new personal records.”

Handy says that she wouldn’t have won this award by herself.

“I think I have some of the best assistant coaches in the area, and they do most of the individual event work,” Handy said. “Skeeter Rankins, Roger Pierce, Kevin Roulhac, Gary Guzman, Dan Moran and Tyshawn Jones. Also Jerrod Handy is the head boys coach, but we all practice together, so it’s a joint effort.”