October 21, 2008
Newland places first at Johnson County Invite
Running only its No. 5 through 10 runners, the third-ranked Cowley College
men’s cross country team still managed to finish second out of
six teams at the Johnson County Invite held Friday in Overland Park.
Led by sophomore Nate Newland’s win of the 3.75 mile race, the
Tigers finished just 12 points behind Johnson County.
“The race went as expected, we got what we needed out of the meet,” Cowley
head coach Vince DeGrado said.
Newland finished the race in 19:30. He took the lead after 1.5 miles
and cruised to the victory.
“Nate can be an up and down runner confidence wise and this was exactly
what I expected and wanted from him,” DeGrado said. “I’m
excited to see Nate race at Colby (regional’s).”
Rolando Vasquez had a good race and finished fifth with a time of 20:01.
“He’ll go faster at regional’s next week when we bring the
entire squad,” DeGrado said.
Freshman Isbek Salinas placed ninth with a time of 20:16, while Phillip
Banowetz placed 10th (20:17).
“Phillip has by far been the Newcomer of the Year for our team,” DeGrado
said. “He has progressed so quickly with this season. He wasn’t
as decorated in high school like a lot of the team. However, he’s competing
and beating guys that he was never with during high school.”
Cianan Kutil finished the race in 20:31 and placed 14th, and Brice Irving,
battling a side stitch, ran 21:01 to finish 16th.
“What I love about this team is we have a small gap between our No. 3
and No. 8 runners,” DeGrado said. “At anytime, Nate could be No.
3 or No. 5, which is a great thing to have.”
Cowley will now prepare for the Region/Conference meet, which will be
held Monday in Colby. The women’s race will begin at 10:30 a.m.
and the men’s race will start at 11:15 a.m.
“I was pleased with the outcome at Johnson County and leading into the
Region/Conference meet, we’re fine tuning things,” DeGrado said.
Team scores:
(1) Johnson, 27; (2) Cowley, 39; (3) Hutchinson, 75; (4) Highland, 112;
(5) Neosho, 115; (6) Wentworth, 185.
