Men's Tiger Track & Field Staff

Head Coach Mark Phillips

Mark Phillips begins his seventh year at Cowley. Last season he guided the Tiger men’s team to its third straight indoor and outdoor conference titles.

In 2008, Phillips led Cowley’s men’s team to its first ever Jayhawk East Conference Triple Crown winning championships in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country.

In Phillips time at Cowley, he has led the Tigers to 16 Jayhawk Conference titles, six Region VI titles, and nine top-five finishes at the NJCAA National Championships.

Prior to coming to Cowley, he spent 12 years at Johnson County Community College, including four years as head coach.

Along with leading the Tiger men to three straight outdoor conference titles and four straight Jayhawk East indoor championships, he has helped the Lady Tiger track and field team win two of the past three outdoor conference titles.

During his tenure at Johnson, Phillips played a key role in a lengthy list of cross country and track team accomplishments. Phillips helped the Cavaliers:

To National Junior College Athletic Association national championships in the women's marathon and women's cross country.
Win 15 top-five NJCAA team trophies at national competitions.
To 48 cross country, indoor and outdoor track teams to top-10 national finishes.
Capture the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division team title 49 times and the Region VI team crown 11 times.
To five conference triple crowns each for men and women during his tenure.
In all, Phillips coached 273 All-Americans, nine NJCAA national champions, three NJCAA record holders, and one Olympic Festival gold medallist.

Prior to coming to Johnson County, Phillips coached pole vault, long jump, triple jump, heptathlon and decathlon at Northwest Missouri State University in 1985 and 1986. He coached jumps, sprints, heptathlon and decathlon as an assistant at Cloud County Community College in 1988 and 1989, where he coached five All-Americans. From the fall of 1989 to the spring of 1991, he was the head cross country and track and field coach at Kansas City Community College, where he turned the program into a national contender in the sprints, coaching 34 All-Americans.

The Northwest Missouri State graduate also saw his share of success as a collegiate student-athlete. He was a pole vaulter/sprinter at Cloud County and Northwest. At Cloud, Phillips was a Region VI champion and a two-time national qualifier in the pole vault. At Northwest, he set school and Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association records while winning three conference championships in the pole vault and as a member of a school record and National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II national qualifying 4x100-meter relay team. He was a member of the 1982 MIAA conference championship team and qualified for two NCAA Division II national meets in the pole vault.

Phillips received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Northwest in 1984. He earned his master’s degree in education from University of Berkley-Michigan in 2001. He is USA Track and Field certified Level 1 coaching and Level 2 Jumps.

He and his wife Naomi have three children: Katie 18, Josh 17 and Justin 10.

Coach Phillips can be reached at (620) 442-1594 or by e-mail: phillips@cowley.edu

Vince DeGrado begins his third season as assistant track coach at Cowley College. DeGrado recently completed his second season as the Tigers’ head cross country coach and coaches the distance and middle distance runners during the track season.

He was named the Region VI Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year after he helped the Tiger cross country team capture its first ever Region VI Championship during the 2007 season. He was also named the Region VI Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year this past season as he guided the Lady Tigers to their first ever region title.

Prior to coming to Cowley, DeGrado served as the Head Cross Country and Track coach at Allen County Community College in Iola, KS for two full seasons.

In March of 2005 DeGrado was hired at 23 as the Head Coach at Allen County and inherited a diminishing program. It did not take long for DeGrado to make his presence felt. In the two full seasons he coached, DeGrado rewrote the record book with 22 broken/tied school records. He coached 9 All-Americans, and 31 National meet Qualifiers, and every single once of his athletes improved their times. During his 2006 season, his first recruiting class in Cross Country has proven to be a successful one. The ACCC Harriers were ranked in the top 25 for the first time in almost 10 years. Finishing the season 22nd, while placing 3rd as team in the conference meet. For his Women's team they finished third in the conference meet and qualified three for Nationals.

DeGrado grew up in Mayetta, KS, graduating from Royal Valley High School. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education with a minor in Psychology at Southwestern College in 2004. He graduated from Emporia State University with his Master's Degree of Science in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. He is USA-TF Level 1 certified, as well as Level 2 certified in Endurance.

As an athlete, DeGrado was an All-State medalist in Cross Country. He started his college career at Coffeyville Community College where he was an Academic All-American, and he was a two-time National Qualifier while competing in cross-country and track. Vince continued his running career at Southwestern College where he ran under the legendary Hall of Fame coach Jim Helmer and became a two-time All-American in the 4 x 800m and Distance Medley Relay. He was a five-time All-KCAC runner, winning the 4 x 800m relay twice, as well as a seven-time National Qualifier.

He and his wife Martha have two children: Natalie 8, and Braiden 7.

DeGrado can be reached at (620) 442-2056 or at degradov@cowley.edu.

After finishing up a stellar collegiate career, former Lady Tiger Courtney Gougler returns to the Cowley College track and field team as a throws coach.

Gougler, who still holds the school record in the hammer throw (149-2), was a two-time national champion in her one year at Cowley as she was the indoor national champion in the shot put and outdoor national champion in the discus.

After one season at Cowley, Gougler transferred to the University of Wyoming, where she was named the Mountain West Conference Athlete of the Week as a junior, and placed third in the conference in the indoor weight throw.

Gougler competed two seasons at Wyoming before spending her final season at Oklahoma State University. At OSU, Gougler competed in the shot put, discus, hammer and weight throw.

Gougler can be reached at 620-442-1594 or at cjgougler@yahoo.com