DeGrado 10 years Later Attempts to Win 1st Team Title, Again…
Sometimes in your life you find yourself coming full circle with moments from your past. For Vince DeGrado that past involves Cowley College and the time he spent coaching them from 2007 to 2011. While at Cowley his men and women won the 2010 NJCAA D1 Cross Country Championships. DeGrado left the following year to build a program at Allen Community College located in Iola, KS. Allen also resides in the KJCCC Jayhawk East Conference so one can understand the long history these two programs share. Up until this year on the men’s side, that rivalry has been one sided, however showing a resurgence is Cowley’s Men’s team which also finds themselves in a familiar situation. “You know when you look at it, it’s quite fascinating, the parallels have come full circle. The previous coach Dan Alder really built that Women’s team back up and now Cameron Reith has the Men’s team back also.” DeGrado said. “I think you’ve got some other programs coming up also, so its only going to make each of us better.”
So now you have 2 programs separated by 1 coach and 10 years later, the same coach is vying to win his programs and colleges first ever National Championship at Allen Community College and will have to do it against the team he help lead to their first title back in 2010. “After that first meet in Hutch I kind of laughed at how crazy this story would be, however I like how fitting it will be to win Allen’s title and do it against my former school.” DeGrado said.
Cowley won the 1st battle 2 weeks ago ending Allen’s 8 straight Jayhawk East Conference Championship streak while stamping their claim as the top NJCAA D2 school. “They really put it to us, and we’ve got to respond. However, we’ll get to line it up and run it back.” DeGrado said.
The Women’s team will not be running a full team however they have some individuals who are running very well, so look for them to finish high also. Local talent Elka Billings and Rachel Bycroft look to become NJCAA All Americans. “I’m very excited about the Women’s future and where this leads us going forward.” DeGrado said.
You can watch the Women’s and Men’s race Saturday November 14th.
Women’s race starts at 2:30pm
Men’s race starts at 3:15pm