With accolades including an NCAA national title already on the shelf, Iola graduate Josh Honeycutt received one more honor with his induction into the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Hall of Fame.
The MIAA, an athletic conference including area schools such as Pittsburg State and Emporia State, inducted Honeycutt into its hall of fame following a three-year career at ESU, where he captured an NCAA DII national title in the triple jump in 2009 and was runner-up for the indoor title in 2011.
Honeycutt, a 2012 graduate of Iola High School, still holds Emporia State records in the triple jump with an indoor record of 51 feet, 10 inches and an outdoor record of 53 feet, 9.25 inches.
Honeycutt was a key part of the Hornets’ fourth-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships — the highest team finish in school history. Honeycutt captured seven of eight possible MIAA Championship titles in the men’s triple jump, winning four straight outdoor championships and three of four indoor championships.
He was also a three-time MIAA champion in the men’s long jump, winning the event at two outdoor championships and one indoor. In total, Honeycutt was a seven-time NCAA Division II All-American and an 11-time MIAA champion. Honeycutt was inducted into Emporia State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
While in high school, Honeycutt won the 2006 state title in triple jump, a year after then-IHS track coach Marv Smith insisted he take it up.
AFTER graduating from college, Honeycutt continued competing as a professional. He nearly made it onto the 2012 Olympic team, missing the cut by one place. Honeycutt won the triple jump title at the 2013 USA Indoor Track and Field Championship and competed in various events across the world until retiring from competition in 2019.
“As I figured out who I was, I can honestly say my competitiveness diminished,” Honeycutt told the Register in a 2020 article. “That’s because for so much of my life, I was competing for the wrong reasons. It was not for excellence, but to be better. That’s a pride thing.
“You can compete from two places,” he continued. “A majority of athletes compete from a place of insecurity, having to prove their value based on their performance.
“But some athletes compete out of a place of wholeness, where it’s like, ‘I know this game doesn’t matter, this competition doesn’t matter. My value isn’t determined by this. I can give it my all, because I know nothing really depends on it.”
Today, Honeycutt lives in Surprise, Ariz., and is an associate pastor at Endurance Church. He’s married and has two children, a 10-year-old and 3-year-old.
