Cowley volleyball preview, more sports

Here is a preview of Cowley volleyball, and there are mens and womens cross country below that


  Cowley volleyball team eager to make another run at national title

Finishing one win away from the program’s first ever national championship, the Cowley College volleyball team returns a squad hungry to earn another shot at the title.
The Lady Tigers return seven players from last season’s team, which finished the season with a record of 32-5 and had the highest winning percentage (86.5%) in the program’s history.
Head coach Jenifer Bahner had a first season to remember as she helped guide Cowley to conference and region titles, a 19-match win streak, and the runner-up national finish. For her efforts, she was named the District M Coach of the Year.
However, Bahner knows this is a new year and nothing will be handed to the Lady Tigers.

“We talk a lot about respecting what past teams have done and this team wants to be back at that level,” Bahner said.
The Lady Tigers have some big shoes to fill with the loss to graduation of Michelle O’Dell, Keshia Clark, and Sarah Eldridge. O’Dell was a First-Team All-American as a libero, while Clark led the team in blocks (92) as a middle hitter. Eldridge spent the past two seasons as the setter for the Lady Tiger volleyball team and led the team with 850 assists.
 “We lost three sophomore leaders, so leadership will be big for us,” Bahner said. “Our returning sophomores have stepped up and we have some freshmen that will be a big part of that.”
Roslandy Acosta and Elena Berroteran highlight the list of returning players. Along with being a First-Team All-American, Acosta was also named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Eastern Division Most Valuable Player, Jayhawk East Freshman of the Year, and was a First-Team All-Region selection. Providing the team with a dominant hitter on the right side, Acosta totaled 413 kills. She was also a gifted setter as she finished with 630 assists. Berroteran, a outside hitter/defensive specialist, averaged 2.7 kills and an impressive 4.7 digs per set as a freshman. She earned Honorable Mention All-Conference recognition in her first year at the school and was named to the All-Tournament Team at nationals.
“Both of them had great first years and we expect them to continue to improve and be two of our biggest point scorers,” Bahner said.
Lindsay Chandler returns to the team after a solid freshman season. Chandler, a middle/outside hitter, finished her freshman year at Cowley with a hitting efficiency of 24.4% and contributed 217 kills on the season.
Sarah Skinner is back after helping the squad by playing all three hitting positions as a freshman. While, Kaitlin Stearns, Kelsey Patterson, and Meagan Cahill  gained valuable experience as freshmen.
“They each have more confidence in themselves, their teammates, and the system,” Bahner said. “Having seven returners will help us progress so much faster and build on last year.”
Bahner has added four freshmen, which she believes will make an immediate impact to the program. The freshmen are, Danika Maggard from Maize, KS, Emily Barto from Frontenac, KS, Molley Scanlon from Platte City, MO, and Shanna Seyfarth from Bentonville, AR.
“All four freshmen are very athletic, which makes it easier to teach things,” Bahner said. “Emily and Danika both jump well and are strong hitters. Molley is a setter who I hope can come in and help run the same offense as last year. While, Shanna has an incredible background in volleyball and brings a lot of experience to the team.”
Bahner is optimistic about what this year’s team can achieve. However, she knows they still have work to do.”
“Offensively, we are going to have to be smarter this year,” Bahner said. “Defense and serve-receive will be our strength, but offensively, we have got to catch up with that. With seven returners, I think we can do it.”
Cowley will open its season Friday, Aug. 27 when they play at the Johnson County Tournament. The Lady Tigers’ first home match will take place at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 2 when they battle Northern Oklahoma College-Enid.





Lady Tigers look to build off last season’s accomplishments

What a year it was for the 2009 Cowley College women’s cross country team. The squad captured its first ever Region VI Championship, and won the conference title for the first time since 2002. The fourth place national finish tied the program’s highest ever finish as Cowley also placed fourth in 2006. The Lady Tigers will attempt to follow up the success of last season with a nucleus of strong returning runners to go along with some talented freshmen.
Cowley said goodbye to two of the most successful runners in the program’s history in Robin Ray and Cecilia Burley. At last year’s national meet, Ray was the first American to finish the race as she placed seventh with a time of 18:20. Ray left her mark on the Cowley program as her time of 18:20 was the second fastest time in school history.
Sophomore Cecilia Burley placed 21st with a time of 19:07. Burley’s time was the sixth fastest in the program’s history as she earned Coaches Association All-American honors.
“Obviously, I don’t think you can replace those two, but I think we have some runners that can help fill the void those two left,” Cowley head coach Vince DeGrado said.
Cowley also lost Marvia Lewin and Jessica Dyer to graduation. However, Leigh Omarkhail, Val Bland, Bailey Hawkins Elly Adamson, and Cassy Kendrick return with valuable experience after competing as freshmen.
Omarkhail and  Bland each placed in the top-10 in the conference and also earned all-region honors for the Lady Tigers as freshmen. Omarkhail capped her initial season by earning Coaches Association All-American honors as she placed among the top-25 American born runners at nationals.
Along with being optimistic about the return of Omarkhail and Bland, DeGrado has been especially pleased with the early season workouts of Adamson and Kendrick.
“Elly and Cassy are night and day different than last year,” DeGrado said. “They both worked extremely hard in their summer training. Elly went above and beyond anything I could have expected and is going to keep getting faster.”
Purity Cheruiyot, who had a successful outdoor track season for the Lady Tigers, is expected to make a major impact with the cross country team.
“Purity worked hard this summer and has finally come into her own,” DeGrado said.
Freshman Kaitlyn Belisle from Enid (OK) High School will also be counted on to have a big season and be running times near Cheruiyot’s. While, Erika LaCroix from Shreveport, LA, is new to distance running, but has made a strong early impression on DeGrado as the coach expects her to be in the mix for one of the team’s top-six spots.
Other freshmen that will look to contribute are, Kadie Peoples, the individual state cross country champion at Madill (OK) High School; Katie Krepel from Kingfisher, OK; Maria Schmidt from Dodge City; Trenda McCLaughry from Rich Hill, MO; and Jessalyn Lanoy from Mannford, OK.
‘We have got a good core of freshmen coming in, this is the deepest group we have had come through the program,” DeGrado said. “We have all of the ingredients to be even better than last year’s team and last year’s accomplishments. But, there is a lot of training to be done between now and November.”
Cowley will open the season by hosting the Cowley Duals on Friday, Aug. 27. The meet will take place at 6 p.m. at Camp Quaker Haven in Arkansas City.
“This meet serves as kind of a kickoff classic for cross country,” DeGrado said. “It will give other schools an opportunity to see the course they will run on at regionals, and give us a chance to make a statement right away. It will be good to see where we are at and be in front of the home crowd.”





                New faces hope to keep Tiger cross country team’s streak alive

Winners of four straight conference titles, the Cowley College men’s cross country team is thought of as the team to beat in the Jayhawk East. In order to make it five consecutive conference titles, the team will need major contributions from its newcomers to help make up for the loss of five of its top-seven runners from a year ago.
Gone are defending conference champion Dustin Mettler, as well as Cianin Kutil, Phillip Banowetz, Isbek Salinas, and Brice Irving. Mettler, Banowetz and Irving each earned Coaches Association All-American honors last season.
Despite the losses to graduation, head coach Vince DeGrado speaks glowingly about the incoming freshmen on the Tigers’ roster, especially the “Big three” as he referred to them. The trio of accomplished runners are, Brock Hime, Cameron Balser, and Victor Others.
“All three were recruited by NCAA Division I schools,” DeGrado said.
Hime is a two-time state champion from Woodland (OK) High School, while Balser qualified for the state cross  country meet all four years at Oak Hills High School in Indiana. Others finished his high school career in Ponca City, OK, by being named the Class 6A state champion.
DeGrado said Hime has stepped in as a vocal leader, while Cameron and Victor have loads of potential.
DeGrado also expects big things from Campus High School graduate, Brock Nooney; Shaun Koehn from Enid (OK) High School; Enrique Benitez from Southeast (OK) High School; and Dustin Sandoval, who was the Class 1A cross country champion as a senior in Keller, Texas.
Nick Ward, who was a three-time state qualifier and teammate of Nooney’s at Campus High School, joins Isaac Wilson, another three-time state qualifier at Greeley County High School, and Logan Ruhde from Arlington, Texas, as other talented freshmen on the squad.
“I have never had this many fast incoming freshmen,” DeGrado said. “The experience factor is not there yet, but we can expect big things from this team.”
Cowley returns four runners from last year’s team in Josh Gracia, Tyson Christensen, Alstin Benton, and Colin Jokisch.
Following a solid freshman season, Gracia, who is from Boynton Beach, FL, returned to Arkansas City early this summer in order to get the training he needed.
“Josh moved back to make a point and show the other runners on the team that we have a chance to be better than we have ever been,” DeGrado said. “Josh has cemented himself as one of the leaders on the team.”
Christensen, from Roy, Utah, competed well at last year’s national meet and finished 39th with a time of 26:56. DeGrado said Christensen has some work to do in order to build off his freshman season, but believes he will rise to the challenge ahead of him.
Benton returns looking to be in the mix, while Jokisch has shined in the early season workouts.
“Colin is physically more mature and has the mindset to be successful for himself and the team,” DeGrado said. “I am excited to see how far he can take it.”
Despite 10 of the squads’ 14 runners being freshmen, DeGrado believes this team has a chance to be special.
“We may have a lack of experience, but we have the talent and team chemistry in order to be successful,” DeGrado said. “This team is already ahead of last year’s team. Our goal is to get the region championship back and be top-three at nationals.”
Cowley will get things started by hosting the Cowley Duals on Friday, Aug. 27. The meet will take place at 6 p.m. at Camp Quaker Haven in Arkansas City.
DeGrado is anxious to see how his young team will respond in its first competition.
“A lot of the guys on our team were the No. 1 runners on their high school teams, now they have people to run with,” DeGrado said. “If we are going to win we are going to have to compete as a team. You don’t usually see a group of guys come in like this with the chemistry they already have established.”