Daviess County High School Girls Cross Country Coach Mark Fortney has been named the KTCCCA Class 3A Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year. Fortney will be recognized at the 2015 Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (KTCCCA) Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame Room in Lexington on Jan. 2.
Fortney’s Lady Panthers won the Class 3-A state championship on Nov. 7. Read more about the Lady Panther’s here.
Fortney began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Muhlenberg North High School in 1997 and then served as assistant cross country and track coach at Muhlenberg South High School from 2004-07. During that time, his team won the regional cross country titles in 2005-06 and won the Class AA State Cross Country Championship in 2006.
Individual students who achieved excellence under his leadership include his son Jacob, who was the 2002-03 state cross country individual champion and two-time regional champion; his daughter Ryanne, who placed in the top 15 in the state during her six-year career at MNHS; and Suzanne Holt, who currently serves as assistant girls’ cross country coach at DCHS, who won the state girls’ cross country championship in 2006.
Fortney joined Daviess County High School as head cross country and track distance coach in 2007; and assumed responsibilities as head track coach in 2014. Under his leadership, DCHS has won the girls Region 1 cross country title every year during his tenure (2007-15) and has also won the city-county title each of those nine years.
His record at state Class AAA contests while coaching at DCHS is:
- 2007, third place
- 2008, eighth;
- 2009, state runner-up;
- 2010, fifth
- 2011, sixth;
- 2012, fourth
- 2013, third, with Whitney O’Bryan earning the state individual championship
- 2014, third
- 2015, Class AAA state championship
Fortney also was named Class AAA Girls’ Coach of the Year and Overall Girls’ Coach of the Year in Kentucky for 2015.
