Cowley men’s cross country team captures conference and region titles

Getting personal best times throughout its lineup, the NJCAA Division II Cowley College men's cross country team easily won the conference title and slipped past NJCAA Division I Cloud County by one point to capture the region title Friday at the Jayhawk Conference/Region VI Championships held in El Dorado, KS.

Only a year removed from failing to qualify as a team to compete at the national championships, the Tigers had three runners earn all-conference honors and were led by freshman Amos Pkiach (24:29.03) being named the conference champion and the Region VI runner-up to Cloud County's Awet Beraki (24:24.56).

"Bringing Amos into the program was a game-changer for us," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. "I think we kind of surprised some people with how quickly we brought the program back."

Fellow freshman Adrian Diaz-Lopez (25:22.12) placed second in the conference and fifth in the region to garner all-conference and all-region honors, while Cowley freshman Joel Rodriguez (26:31.64) placed seventh to earn all-conference honors.

"Adrian is a hard worker and ran phenomenal, while Joel Rodriguez had a 30-second personal best and was a huge piece to helping the team win," Rieth said. "It took people stepping up big time and blowing their personal best times out of the water."

Xoel Rodriguez-Abad (26:50.57) also ran well and placed ninth in the conference. Other Tiger runners finishing just behind Rodriguez-Abad were sophomore Javyn Contreras (27:04.55), who ran a 40-second personal best, and Edwin Olvera (27:20.79), Samuel Giles (27:25.23), Caleb Liermann (27:26.58), Dawson Crawley (27:29.07), and Aidan Wells (27:58.25).

Cowley will look to carry on the momentum of winning the conference and region titles when they compete in the NJCAA Division II National Championships Saturday, November 14 in Fort Dodge, IA.

"We want to bring home some national hardware," Rieth said.

Jayhawk Conference Results: (1) Cowley, 30; (2) Allen, 55; (3) Butler, 67; (4) Fort Scott, 95; (5) Highland, 120; (6) Coffeyville, 175.

Region Results: (1) Cowley, 56; (2) Cloud, 57; (3) Hutchinson, 99; (4) Allen, 102; (5) Butler, 124; (6) Dodge City, 150; (7) Colby, 157; (8) Fort Scott, 183; (9) Highland, 230; (10) Garden City, 274; (11) Northwest Kansas Tech, 308; (12) Coffeyville, 334.