Track & Field
Staff

Head Coach Mark Phillips

Mark Phillips begins his ninth year at Cowley. Last season he guided the Tiger men’s team to its fifth straight indoor and outdoor conference titles. He also has led the women’s team to back-to-back indoor region titles and helped them capture four of the past five conference titles during the outdoor season.

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 two national championships, 27 Jayhawk Conference titles, 11 Region VI titles, and 14 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.

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 medalist.

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 21, Josh 19 and Justin 11.

Coach Phillips can be reached at (620) 307-6187 or by e-mail: phillips@cowley.edu

Assistant Coach Kevin McDougal

Having excelled as a member of the Tiger cross country and track and field teams, Kevin McDougal returns to Cowley College as an assistant cross country and track coach.

McDougal was a second-team All-American as a sophomore member of the Tiger cross country team during the 2002 season. Along with the All-American honors, he was a two-time All-Region cross country selection.

McDougal carried his success from cross country into the track season as he was a two-time conference champion in the outdoor 1,500-meter run. In all, he was a 10-time national qualifier and four-time All-Region runner.

He went on to earn a degree in Sports Administration from Wichita State University in 2006 and is working towards a Master’s degree from Northwest Missouri State University.

While at WSU, he served as the team captain and was a member of the All-Conference distance medley relay team.

After WSU, McDougal served an internship with Butler Community College before spending one year as an assistant cross country/track and field coach at Pratt Community College.

He then spent the 2007-2008 school year serving as an in-school suspension director/supervisor at Marceline R-V School District. Prior to returning to Cowley, McDougal had served as an assistant cross country/track and field coach at William Jewell College in Liberty, MO, and had been a substitute teacher in the Kearney (MO) School District since August 2008.

While at William Jewell, he coached eight conference champions, seven national qualifiers, one All-American and 18 All-Conference performers.

Assistant Coach Courtney Gougler

Courtney Gougler returns to the Cowley College track and field team for her third year as a throws coach. She coached Charles James, the 2011 outdoor track and field national champion in the shot put.

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 620-307-6187 or at cjgougler@yahoo.com