News

Assistant Track & Field Coach of the Year: Eric Cogdill

Centennial’s Eric Cogdill has been named Assistant Coach of the Year for Girls Track & Field by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. This follows his fall award, when he was named State Cross Country Coach of the Year for Girls 4A.

“For head coaches, there is a coach of the year in each class,” said Centennial Girls Head Track Coach Andrew Kruzich. “For this award, only one girls’ assistant and one boys’ assistant are named in all classes combined, so it’s a pretty big deal.”

Cogdill primarily coaches the team’s distance runners and has played a key role in the success of both cross country and track programs. He has coached 9 state qualifiers in the 3000, 8 in the 1500, 4 in the 800. All of the 30 girls in his training group receive specifically tailored workouts and plans, and are coached up to improve. His JV team swept the top 6 spots in the 1500 at conference this year. Of the 25 that ran the 1500m this season all of them ran lifetime bests. Out of the 13 in the 3000m this season 12 ran lifetime bests. Of the 30 runners the 800m 28 ran lifetime bests.

“Eric Cogdill is truly ‘all in’ when it comes to our athletes and our sport,” Kruzich said. “I could not imagine trying to run a program of our size without his assistance, and I could not imagine a better candidate for Assistant Coach of the Year.”

Congratulations to Coach Cogdill for his incredible drive and successful coaching to our Centennial athletes!