INDIANAPOLIS, IN  –  Missouri S&T has been named a finalist for the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division II Award of Excellence for "community engagement efforts." S&T was recognized for their disaster recovery efforts in the community following the EF-2 tornado that hit Rolla, Missouri in March of 2025.

The Division II Award of Excellence highlights initiatives that exemplify the Division II philosophy of community engagement and student-athlete leadership. The overall finalists were chosen by a committee of athletics administrators and the 
Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), with the SAAC members ultimately selecting the top three finalists. Those honorees, including the winner, will be announced at the Division II business session this month at the 2026 NCAA Convention in the Washington, D.C., area. Each finalist will receive $750. The winner will receive $3,000, with the second-place finisher getting $1,750 and the third-place finisher awarded $1,500. All prize money is intended to be used for future SAAC programming or community engagement events.

The full story on S&T's efforts to help Rolla after the tornado can be found below:

On March 14th, 2025, an EF-2 tornado with peak winds of 120 miles per hour hit Rolla, Missouri, taking the small community by surprise and marking the town’s first direct hit by a tornado in over three decades. Eighty percent of the town lost power immediately following the touchdown. From damaged schools and homes, downed trees and electrical poles, the town was dependent upon volunteers and neighboring communities to help re-establish basic services and start the rebuilding process. 

Missouri S&T and members from the athletic department, both student-athletes and staff, quickly mobilized to come to the community’s aid in the aftermath of the devastation. One of those volunteers was Zander Kimberlin-Poore, a then junior cross country and track and field athlete. When he drove by houses near Rolla Middle School with fallen trees and debris on Saturday, he said he felt compelled to get his boots from his home and then return to the area and assist however he could. “It could be you; it could be anybody; you might not know them, but they need help,” Zander said. “My power went out during the storms, and I see some complaining about that. But you see other people have it much worse, and it’s better to be over there helping them.” 

Echoing Kimberlin-Poore, the Miner athletic teams not traveling for competition quickly volunteered to assist in the clean-up. The then SAAC president and junior football student-athlete Bentley Hart recalls his experience: “Rolla is a special place for us student-athletes. It’s a small town where the sense of community and belonging runs deep. When one of us hurt, all of us hurt, and us student-athletes and our coaches knew it was our responsibility to give back to this town who supports us. On Sunday, we met at the headquarters of the disaster clean-up (and received training from FEMA and supplies from the Red Cross). From there, the football and women’s soccer teams spent the day moving trees and limbs and other debris from the Rolla Lions Club Park (located in the heart of tornado’s touchdown).” 

Head men’s soccer coach Rob Cummings proudly remembers how his team and the entire athletic department responded to the disaster, calling the response a “no brainer” for everyone involved. “What we preach is that we all come from different places, but for the nine months that we are here, we are all Rolla,” said Coach Cummings, “We treat it like this is our (home).”  Coach Cummings and the men’s soccer team started aiding with cleanup bright and early the morning after the tornado, meeting at a designated house and moving down the path of destruction… clearing debris and fallen trees, as well as removing stumps along the way. “We wanted to go in and find an area that needed our help the most,” said Coach Cummings. 

Former men’s soccer student-athlete and student assistant coach Luke Mirly provided his own chainsaw, expediting efforts to trim and remove fallen trees. The team started working at dawn and didn’t stop until they couldn’t find anyone else in need of aid, ending the day helping one of S&T athletic trainers whose home had been affected by the tornado damage. 

S&T men’s and women’s soccer programs stepped up in the week following the tornado and hosted a free soccer clinic for the children of families affected by the tornado. The tornado was a traumatic event for the town of Rolla, and immediately following the event, many parents and guardians were doing their best to continue to manage without power, while holding down their work commitments, and the additional stress of dealing with insurance carriers and understanding where to find emergency benefits. Members of both soccer teams held a kids soccer clinic to not only give the kids an outlet to simply play but give the parents an opportunity to not worry about their kids being taken care of, albeit for a short time. Coach Cummings will always remember the joy on the faces of the kids as he knew these kids were able to find some happiness in the chaos in the wake of the tornado’s destruction. Equally important, however, is the knowledge that a response to the disaster is a great opportunity to connect with the community and allow others to come together to support those in need. 

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