Kent State University at East Liverpool Men's Track & Field

Long regarded as one of the top throws coaches in the country, Kent State graduate Nathan Fanger ’00 was named Director of Track/Field and Cross Country in J...

Laura Rybka was named an assistant coach for the Kent State track and field program in July 2024. In addition to training mid-distance and distance members of the track and field teams, she serves head coach for the cross country team.s Rybka joins the Golden Flashes from NCAA Division III Grove City College, where she spent four seasons on the coaching staff, serving as the head coach of the cross country program for the 2022 and 2023 seasons while also working as the Coordinator of Distance Running for the track and field program. The Wolverines saw seven program records fall and 78 new top-10 all-time marks across the distance events under the guidance of Rybka. Grove City also captured the 2023 Women's Cross Country President's Athletic Conference title and swept the 2022 Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field PAC Championships. Rybka earned her bachelor's degree in business administration from Malone University in 2017. She started coaching with the Pioneers as a student assistant coach. After working at Malone, she spent two seasons in the Rubber City as a volunteer assistant with the Zips. In 2019, she joined the coaching staff at NCAA Division II Ursuline College in Pepper Pike. After two seasons with the Arrows, she joined the staff at Grove City in November 2020.

Lauren Zaglifa enters her first season as the pole vault coach for Kent State Track and Field. Prior to arriving at Kent State, Zaglifa was an assistant coac...

Kent State track and field alum Michael Schober was named associate head coach in August 2022. Schober, who returns to Golden Flashes' staff following a three-year stint as the associate head coach at Central Michigan, will mentor student-athletes competing in sprints, hurdles and men's long jump. During his time in Mount Pleasant, Schober concentrated on training athletes competing in sprints, hurdles, mid-distance, jumps, and combined events. Schober's first return to Kent came in October 2013 when he was hired as an assistant coach in charge of training the team's sprints, hurdles, mid-distance, jumps and female combined events competitors. He helped the women's team win both the indoor and outdoor conference titles in 2014 and was named the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Men's Assistant Coach of the Year in 2018. In total, Schober coached 30 conference champions, 34 East Preliminary Round qualifiers, nine NCAA Championships qualifiers and five All-Americans over six seasons from 2013-19. His first full-time gig began in August 2012 as an assistant coach at Mount Union, concentrating on developing student-athletes competing in jumps, hurdles and combined events. In addition to helping the Purple Raiders capture four Ohio Athletic Conference team championships, Schober mentored individuals who totaled one national title, seven All-America honors, 10 conference titles and eight program records during his lone season in Alliance. He was named the Men's Great Lakes Region Div

Tavius Ferguson enters his second season as an assistant coach – specializing in sprints and hurdles. Ferguson previously worked as an assistant coach at Weber International University, which he started in the fall of 2022. His athletes broke three school records during that time. Ferguson began his coaching career at his former high school, Miami Coral Park Senior High School, where he served as the Head Boy's and Girl's Sprint Coach from 2017-2019. During that time, he had six athletes qualify for the FHSAA 4A State Championship. His team broke all of the sprint records during that time and he had two student-athletes sign to their respective national teams (Isaac Joseph - Haiti and Armando Colome - Nicaragua). In 2017, Ferguson also joined Miami Elite Track Club as the Boys and Girls Sprint Coach and had several athletes qualify for the AAU National Championship and New Balance Outdoor Championship. Most recently, Coach Ferguson served as the Boy's Head Sprinters Coach at Miami Southbridge Senior High School. In his time there, he had four athletes qualify for the 3A State Track Championship. He also had several athletes qualify for the New Balance, Adidas, and Nike Outdoor Championships. Ferguson graduated from local Warner University in 2015 with his Bachelor's Degree in Sports Management. He competed for the Royals in both cross country and track & field. Ferguson was a three-time NAIA National Qualifier and a two-time NCCAA National Qualifier.