RHS alumnus Keitavious Walter named track coach at Northwest Kansas Technical College
After reaching the heights of track performance at the NJCAA and Division I level, former Ruston High standout Keitavious Walter has been named head track and field coach at Northwest Kansas Technical College.
Walter, a 2015 graduate of RHS, was promoted after the departure of former head coach Evans Kiptoo to North Alabama.
“I feel like my high school experience went by in a blur, especially since it was really my last year of high school where I kind of broke out,” Walter said. “But I’m definitely grateful for it. I had the best high school coach in the state, Coach (Allen) Whitaker, and he made me want to believe in myself and be my best.”
In his time as a Bearcat, Walter won the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 meter relay at the 2015 Louisiana Class 5A state championships before taking his talent to the college level, where his interest in coaching began to take shape.
After graduating from Ruston, he attended Hinds Community College from 2015- 17, where he was a twotime NJCAA 60-meter dash champion, NJCAA 200- meter dash champion (indoor and outdoor), member of the Hinds 2017 NJCAA Outdoor Championship 4x100 relay, school re-cord holder in the 4x100 relay (38.91 seconds) and second fastest time for the 100-meter dash (9.98 seconds).
Walter transferred to The University of Alabama, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Housing and Human Environments. While in Tuscaloosa, Walter was First Team All-SEC for the outdoors 200 meters ( 2018) and was a 200-meter AllAmerican during the 2019 indoor season.
“When I got to college, I just started seeing the way the coaches operate thinking that I like this and I would start coaching myself,” Walter said. “I just like the scheme of it.”
During the 2021- 22 school year, Walter was an assistant coach at Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas, and was named the NJCAA Indoor Region VI Assistant Coach of the Year.
From there, he joined NWKTC and impressed administrators enough in one year to earn the head coaching promotion.
NWKTC Athletic Director Rory Kling said, “ We are impressed with the guidance and coaching that Coach Walter has provided this past season. We are excited for the continued success of the program as we run into the 2023-24 season.”
Even with experience at all levels, Walter doesn’t have a jumbled recruiting approach as he works to build his program.
“I look for guys that want to come in and be a gamechanger,” Walter said. “ When I recruit an athlete, I look for tendencies, and I want them to be a student of the game. Facilities do not win championships; it will never win. I want athletes that want to be a great student above all else.”
As he enters year one of his head coaching tenure, Walter can already see himself in the business for years to come.
Coaching track will be a part of his life for as long as he’s able.
“This is a full-career job for me,” Walter said of coaching. “ I’m already seeing the future right now. It’s going to be great in the future. I’m building on all of it. Coaching is something that I want to do as far as it takes me.”
Walter and his coaching staff at NWKTC will bring on another Bearcat, as Ruston High’s Kendrick Jones will officially sign to compete at the school on Friday.
