Spalding University Men's Cross Country

Sowder enters his second year at the helm as Head Coach of the Spalding mens and womens cross country and track & field programs. In his first season, Sowder helped take the program to new heights with the womens cross country program capturing the first SLIAC Conference Championship in school history with senior harrier Kayla Payne leading the way with a third place individual finish marking the best womens individual finish in school history. On the mens side, the Golden Eagles repeated as team champions, while Brandon Price won the individual championship. The success continued into track season where the Golden Eagles took home five more conference titles, as well as five runner-up finishes at the 2016 SLIAC Outdoor Meet. The program saw four individuals produce marks that ranked among the top-200 in NCAA Division III (Katie Suiters, 77 th /discus, Kayla Riggs, 123 rd /800m, Brandon Price 158 th /10,000m and Daniel Kaiser 171 st /200m). The program also qualified four individuals for the Great Lakes Elite Regional (Kaiser, Price, Suiters and Riggs). While obtaining several achievements in competition the program saw growth in the classroom as well earning 15 Academic All-Conference awards for the fall and spring seasons.  Sowder commented, From start to finish the entire year was amazing.  The entire program has grown so much, and we had a lot to celebrate about.  I know the future is going to be very exciting as the individuals we have are hungry and have their eyes set on bigger accomplishments! Before taking over the reins at SU, Sowder served as interim head coach in the spring of 2015.  The team found great success as they obtained 14 new school records and the third individual All-American honors in program history with Kyle Jenkins 5th place performance in men's discus at the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships. Prior to working at Spalding, Sowder had stops at the University of Louisville, Eastern High School and Lexington Christian Academy. Sowder attended the University of the Cumberlands and the University of Kentucky where he graduated with a double major in Kinesiology and Health Promotions. He lives in Bagdad, Ky. with his wife Misty, and their two children, Makenzie and Elliot.