Tiffin University graduate and track & field alumni Kayla Ellks will be entering her seventh season as an assistant in 2019-20, coaching the horizontal jumps.

Ellks, who was a TU standout, helped lead the team to their 2016 and 2017 NCAA DII Indoor National Championships (first NCAA title in school history and first Ohio program throughout all divisions). She has also contributed to the 6 NCAA top 4 trophies the Dragons have accumulated. Ellks is also Academic Coordinator and has led the team to 2x USTFCCCA National Scholar Team of the Year Awards. While coaching at Tiffin, Ellks has been instrumental in the development of long jumper Marquise Corbett, 1x National Champion, 2x National Runner up, and 4x All-American. Marquise broke the school record more than 6 times, taking his best to 7.97 (26ft 1in). In the 2018 season, Ellks had 5 Individual Conference Champions, 10 top 3 performances, and 16 top 8 performances in the horizontal jumps. Over the past 4 seasons, Ellks has totaled 54 top 8 performances in her career on the men’s and women’s side. Ellks led an impressive 1,2,3 sweep in the men’s long jump at the 2017 Outdoor GLIAC Championships with jumps all over 7.00 meters and is responsible for 6 out of 8 horizontal records.

As an athlete, Kayla held the Triple jump record, was on a record holding 4x100 relay, and is the current record holder in the Long jump at Tiffin University. She is also on the top-ten performance list in multiple events and was team captain of the jumpers in 2012-2013. Ellks was the 2013 Indoor GLIAC Champion in the Triple Jump with previous top 3 finishes in 2010 and 2012. She was also the 2013 Indoor GLIAC Runner-Up in the Long Jump, had top three finishes in 2011 and 2012, and hit NCAA provisional marks in both long and triple jump.

Ellks spent the year of 2013-14 at Tiffin University as a student assistant and assisted in the breaking of two school records in the triple jump, one of those records being her own. Ellks graduated with 2 Bachelor degrees in Criminal Justice from Tiffin University.