Bio

The 2022-23 season came to a close with the Lady Tigers stretching their XC Conference win streak to six, both men and women were also Region VI XC Champions, and also both programs finished in the top six at the national xc meet. During this time, Coach Rieth was named the 2022 USTFCCCA Central Region Women’s Coach of the year. Coach Rieth oversaw 96 new Top-15 marks in program history and 2 new school records during indoor, and 52 new marks during outdoor. Through a complete team effort, both men’s and women’s tigers teams were able to repeat as Outdoor KJCCC Eastern Conference Champions, then finally the Tigers capped off their year with the men’s team finishing 9th and the women’s team finishing 13th at the national outdoor meet in Hobbs, NM. Treavor Green was able to bring home the national title in the hammer.

    In the Fall of 2021, Coach Rieth took over the track and field leadership role to be the head coach of both cross country and track and field at Cowley. Following one of the most respected coaches in the JUCO world of track and field and recent Track and Field Hall of Fame inductee Coach Mark Phillips. The Tiger men finished what they had set out to do the year before and won the programs 2nd National Title, the first since 2010. Adrian Diaz-Lopez and Amos Pkiach went 1-2 at the National Meet. Along the way, they also captured the Region and Conference championships as well. Even while graduating 80% of the championship team from last year, our Lady Tigers also continued on their success. Winning the program’s 5th straight conference championship, and 4th straight region championship, while finishing 4th at the national meet. In the spring of 2022, Adrian went on to break the indoor mile, 3k, and outdoor 5k school records. He was also able to win his 2nd consecutive 3k national championship.

   During the Fall of 2020, while battling the uncertainty of Covid-19, the Cowley Tigers had a season to remember. Both the women and men were region and conference champions, the first time in 10 years. The women went on to become the JUCO D-2 National Champions, while the men finished third. Lubna Suied led the way for the women by winning the programs first individual national championship in XC. Newcomers Adrian Diaz-Lopez and Amos Pkiach finished 2nd and 3rd which spearheaded a national resurgence for the Tiger men.

   In the Fall of 2019, Rieth began his first full season at Cowley. The Lady Tigers repeated as Region VI champions and won their 3rd straight conference championship. Rieth was the 2019 Women’s Region VI Cross Country Coach of the year, as well as being named the 2019 USTFCCCA Women’s Cross-Country Region Coach of the year. During this time Sasha Elizondo was a 10x All-American, 7x Region Champion, & 14 x All Region stand out performer.

   In his short time at Cowley, Rieth coached eight All-American performances, seven region championships, 14 All-Region stand-out performers, and two school records (indoor 1,000-meter run and mile run).

   Prior to Cowley, Rieth spent four years as the head coach of Colby Community College and watched a resurgence on the NJCAA national scene for both programs. While at Colby, both teams combined success gained attention from the JUCO world with the Trojans starting the 2017-2018 season on a historic note. The Lady Trojans repeated as conference champions, while upsetting the #2 nationally ranked team to win their first Region VI championship since 1999 and finished 6th in the country. Also, while at Colby, Rieth recruited and coached Nehemia Too and Wesley Kiptoo-Banguria, who went on to have two of the most successful JUCO careers in recent memory, having won 7 individual national championships collectively, while shattering the Colby school record book and a couple of regional and national records. Both went on to run at Iowa State. Wesley currently is running for professional for the Hoka NAZ Elite team. While at Iowa State, he set a NJCAA national indoor record in the 5k in 13:14. Nehemia ran a Iowa State school record in the mile in 3:57. He also coached and recruited Winnie Kibet and Aileen Gurrolla who went on to become two of the best women distance runners in program history, with 6 x School records, 14 x All-American and 25 x All-Region honors between the two of them.  

Through the Lady Trojans’ efforts during the 2017 season, Coach Rieth was named USTFCCCA NJCAA Central Region Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and the 2017 Region VI Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and Coach of the Champions. While at Colby, Rieth recruited and coached Nehemia Too and Wesley Banguria-Kiptoo, who went on to have two of the most successful JUCO careers in recent memory, having won seven individual national championships collectively while shattering the Colby school record book and setting a couple of regional and national records. Both went on to run and become All-American runners at Iowa State. Dustin Nading also ran for Coach Cam at Colby; he went on to be a stand-out star in D-2 (Western Oregon), then later at the University of Washington.  Winning four National D-2 titles and breaking the 4-minute mile barrier.  He also coached and recruited Winnie Kibet and Aileen Gurrola,  who both went on to become two of the best women distance runners in program history, having broken six school records, earning 14 All-American and 25 x All-Region honors between the two of them.

   Rieth brings a deep passion for the sport and helping young athletes, as well as a wealth of knowledge at the distance events and XC. . Having gone the JUCO route himself, he truly appreciates the opportunities the junior college world brings to incoming athletes. Before coaching in JUCO, Rieth spent four years as an assistant at his alma mater Fort Hays State (D-2). Rieth graduated from Garden City Community College (KS) in 2009 with an associate’s degree. Afterward, he went to Fort Hays State University, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees in Health and Human Performance (2013) and Education (2014).  Coach Rieth can be contacted at (620) 307-6187 or at cameron.rieth@cowley.edu

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

3: National

10: Region VI

116: Conference

3: National Podium Finishes

2: Region VI Runner Ups

13: Region VI Podium Finishes

17: Top 10 National Finishes

INDIVIDUAL

4: National Athletes of the Year

11: National Champions

12: National Runner Ups

103: All-Americans

3: Region VI Top Point Scorer

271: All-Region VI Performers

(36 Champions)

401: All-Conference Performers

(67 Champions)

35: School Records Broken

COACHING

3: National XC Coach of the Year

9: USTFCCCA JUCO Region AOY

8: USTFCCCA JUCO XC/TF

    Region COY

3: Region VI XC Coach of the Year

2: USTFCCCA Region

    Assistant Track COY

3: NJCAA National Academic

    Team of the Year