Men make program history-Finish NJCAA National Runner Up
FORT DODGE, Iowa — All of the trials, tribulations, thrills and spills of a cross country season unlike any other suddenly came down the last 1mile to go, with three teams still within reach of a national championship. How close was it? At the 4-mile mark of the 8k race (a sneeze’s distance short of 5 miles) the three schools were tied at 67 points, according to real-time standings that monitor where each school’s top five runner is situated.
“If you’re not the 3 teams, you couldn’t have asked for a better ending, who doesn’t want to see the entire season as it plays out come down to the final mile. Unless you’re one of the 3 teams.” DeGrado said. While laughing of course. “I would have loved to have run away with it literally after mile 3 and cruised to the victory, however fans who watched online were in for a treat.”
Allen Community College, which spent time as the top NJCAA Division II team in the country before a late swoon dropped the Red Devil men to third, was neck and neck with North Iowa and Cowley.
Sure enough, Allen and Cowley battled it out to the bitter end, with a late rally from a pair of ACC runners to edge out their rivals from Cowley, 68 points to 70.
Problem was, North Iowa’s runners ended the race on a tear. Over the final two miles, each of North Iowa’s top five runners passed an average of four other runners to secure that school’s first ever national championship. “You know I honestly wasn’t paying much attention to North Iowa due to the back and forth between Allen and Cowley with all of the history as well as they beat us. It was as if Allen and Cowley were trading punches, and you had North Iowa quickly just walk by us as we were concerned with ourselves.” “It was really fun to see those moments unfold,” Allen head coach Vince DeGrado said. “That last 800, I was on pins and needles, seeing us finish. I was so focused on us and Cowley and saw that we had beaten them by two points. I was looking at my phone and had yet to see North Iowa’s score.
When the North Iowa score was posted, 57 points, DeGrado’s knees buckled slightly and he set on the ground for a second. “I had to refresh it a few times to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, I then realized North Iowa had more people to pass with their #5 runner.”
“To be a part of that was fun,” he said “It’s too bad we weren’t on the winning end of it.”
Leading the charge Saturday were some familiar names. Sophomores Brig Merritt and Henos Andebrhan finished eighth and ninth, respectively, with times of 26:06.28 and 26:17.97.
The third All-American was Phillip Semian, who took 15th at 26:41.99. Narrowly missing out on an All-American finish was sophomore Devan Crow, who battled injuries late in the year, and took 16th at 26:46.55.
On top of that, ACC had 3 runners — earn All-American designations, courtesy of their top-15 finishes, and narrowly missing having four with Devin.
And while all were deserving of praise — “Brig and Henos were great, and I can’t say enough about what Phillip and Devan made a HUGE move with 800m to go that took him in front of Ray pushing him.” DeGrado said — it was the work of Raymon Gonzalez taking off which then engaged Devin and then Michael McMorris who were crucial in Allen’s edging out Cowley for second. McMorris, in particular, passed a pair of Cowley runners and two others in the last quarter-mile.
So even though he was sixth-fastest, and had no bearing on ACC’s team score, he finished ahead of Cowley’s fifth-place runner, DeGrado said.
Still, DeGrado and his runners returned home with a runner-up trophy in tow — the school’s highest ever team finish in a national competition. “You know when I came over here from Cowley back in 2011, my goal was to bring in a National trophy and was hopeful to eclipse the 1983 Baseball teams National 3rd place finish. I’ve held the baseball team to such a high measuring stick, so now that we’ve eclipse that, the next thing is to bring home the bigger one.” DeGrado said
“I’ve been chasing my own shadow for quite some time, so I’m realistic to know how hard it is to win one.”
THE MEN’S team will have plenty in its cupboard returning next year as well, with the hopes of replicating this year’s achievements. “I know we’re going to have to deal with more teams coming back and most likely bringing in international athletes. I know there is gray area ways to get around our regulations, however I hope those schools either move up or maintain some integrity for doing it the right way.”
DeGrado also praised North Iowa’s head coach, Curtis Vais. “I’m very happy for him. I’ve known Curtis for a long time, and he’s done a heck of a job.” It seemed like he was always just short or shy of bringing home a trophy. I had a lot of appreciation seeing him win and gave him my praise after the race.
Despite the disappointment of coming up just shy of a title, “it was cool seeing the guy win for the first time,” DeGrado said.
SATURDAY’S runner-up finish came 10 years after DeGrado’s crowning achievement, when as a coach at Cowley, he led the Tigers to an NJCAA cross country title. “As I said earlier, you couldn’t of scripted a better ending and in a world of memes would have been a great 10years later one.”
And with COVID wreaking havoc on this year’s athletic world anyway, DeGrado was optimistic, but wary, of what this year might entail.
“It’s like 2020 has been an everlasting game of Jumanji, where each month was like a new level,” DeGrado joked. “This season was very stressful and mentally taxing,” he continued. “It was hard maintaining an environment, while constantly saying ‘stay away, stay away, stay away.’”
“There was so much uncertainty, about if we were even going to be around,” DeGrado said. “I’d like to think our team did all the right things, but you know they’re still kids. Yeah, we lucked out and didn’t have to quarantine.
With that in mind, he’s going to enjoy this year’s runner-up finish, perhaps more than winning the title at Cowley a decade ago.
“I was sitting at the hotel, with the runner-up trophy, and I realized I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the trophy at Cowley at all I was so young at the time and it happened very quickly,” he said. “This year, my son was with me. My wife was with me. I’m going to make sure I take that opportunity and soak it all in and I cared more about including them in on everything .”
Meanwhile, DeGrado is encouraging his athletes to focus full-bore on their academics.
An indoor track season is looking highly unlikely because of the coronavirus threat, while ACC’s athletes now have outdoor track season to focus on — which means staying on top of their grades to remain eligible.
He’ll catch his breath for a while, but not too long.
“That’s the plan to build on this during track season so that come next Fall we’ve done the right things to make that next step,” he said.
NJCAA-Division II National Championships
Men’s 8K
8. Brig Merritt, 26:06.28, 9. Henos Andebrhan, 26:17.97, 15. Phillip Semien, 26:41.99, 16. Devan Crow, 26:45.97, 20. Raymon Gonzalez, 26:49.43, 23. Michael McMorris, 27:06.75, 61. Kyle Henry, 28:28.99