ACC men’s cross country takes ninth at nationals

LUBBOCK, Texas — Keep it simple, stupid.
That’s what coach Vince DeGrado kept telling himself after the Allen Community College men’s cross country team finished ninth as a team at the NJCAA National Championships this past Saturday.
“My worst week ever, is the last week of every season. You’re over-thinking everything,” DeGrado said. “I should have told myself KISS – keep it simple, stupid. That’s essentially what I’ve done all year. Everything I’ve done has been keep it simple, keep it simple and keep it simple. Stick to the plan and don’t deviate. I’ve been solid on that all year, and all of the sudden during the week of nationals, I changed it up.”
Finishing ninth out of 33 teams is nothing to be upset about, but the team had been trending upward for the past several weeks. Instead, DeGrado changed up the team’s workout routine and believes this caused them all to slide.
Pedro Montoya led the Red Devils, finishing the 8-kilometer run in 22nd place with a time of 25 minutes and 55 seconds. Brock Artis placed 43rd in 26:34.
“The guys that (Pedro) finished ahead of and with at regionals were sitting fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth,” DeGrado said.
“That’s what makes me so mad. And Brock. He’s been with me two and a half years, I love that kid like a little brother. That’s what made me mad at myself, that kid gave it his all for this program. You want him to keep receiving what he and they deserved. I hate to say deserve, but they did deserve to run well.”
Trail Spears crossed the finish line in 27:17 for 79th place, Meshach Adams placed 91st in 27:39, Jeremy Brittain took 96th in 27:45, Connor Immenschuh took 119th in 28:06 and Daniel Driskill finished in 121st in 28:07.
“Looking at the results, they were getting faster, faster and faster. All I had to do was the same workouts,” DeGrado said. “Instead, I went and got some outside input. The problem with that, is they’re not at my practices every day or with these athletes every day. That is the insecurity of a coach.”
DeGrado said the team should have finished in sixth place and that is where they were projected to finish before the race. But, he isn’t letting this one meet define the entire season.
“We won our third straight conference title,  took second in the region with a team that hardly returned anyone from last year’s team,” DeGrado said.
DeGrado, 33, is in his ninth season as a coach. In his fifth season, he won a national title at Cowley College. Since then, he said he has tried to repeat what he did that season.
This year, he didn’t think he had the best recruits, but he had the perfect training formula. By taking outside help, it may have cost his team a better place at nationals.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had disappointment at nationals that I could actually pinpoint what I did wrong,” DeGrado said. “You could have two or three run bad or a mixture, but when all eight runners have a bad or their worst race of the year, you’ve got to look at yourself.”
Alisn Stevens, the lone woman runner, also took a step back at the national meet. She placed 103rd in the 5k meet with a time of 20:17.
“As I was looking through results, comparing region results with national results, she would have been in the top-30,” DeGrado said.
DeGrado said the team will have one last chance at redemption. Allen will compete in the NJCAA Half-Marathon Classic in Topeka on Nov. 22. The 13.1 mile course will be the last cross country event of the season.
DeGrado said that the team will have only four runners participate since the team score will only apply to a team’s top three runners — one runner will be a back-up.
“Overall this season has been great, I had a lot of fun,” DeGrado said. “That’s why I’m just mad at myself. For something so simple as to keep it simple, that’s all I had to do.”