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Jake Holt has long championed the idea of having a cross country program at Crowder College in Neosho.
When he started teaching Upward Bound at the junior college more than a decade ago he brought up the idea but it didn't happen. Flash forward to this past December, the school approved the addition of the program for the fall of 2022.
Holt, who has coached cross country at nearby East Newton since 2005, was tabbed as the head coach for the Roughriders' program.
"The challenge is something I'm looking forward to, potentially coaching at the college level," Holt said. "It is just a good opportunity. I'm near the end of my education career in terms of teaching and coaching is something I want to do longer."
He had an idea this past fall might've been his last year as the Patriots cross country coach.
"The last conference meet, the last district meet, the last time taking young kids to Columbia for the state meet, it was emotional," Holt said. "I knew at the end of the year banquet that I wouldn't be coming back. Saying goodbye and they didn't realize it at the time was kind of emotional."
He has been busy trying to get a program up from scratch but in a few weeks he will turn his attention to his other job, the head coach for the East Newton track and field program.
There will be times he will be juggling both duties this spring.
For now, he is working on a lot of little nuances for the Roughriders' program, like making a schedule. So far, Crowder expects to run at Southwest Baptist, Missouri Southern and the University of Arkansas - many of the same meets he took his high school teams over the years.
Holt has signed a handful of runners so far, with a goal to get between 14 and 20 runners by the fall. He inked 2022 graduates Allen White of Wetumka, Okla., Lori McNeill of Wheaton and Jose Antillion of Webb City. Former high school graduates Lauren Fisher (Webb City), Jacob Bennion (East Newton), Parker Drake (East Newton) and Ellie Hicks (East Newton) will dust off their shoes and run again.
Holt has been calling coaches in Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri to tell cross country runners there will be a chance to run in college if there is interest. Some recruiting is looking for student-athletes with A+ plus money available or other financial scholarship opportunities.
"I've been making a lot of phone calls and video conferences, a lot of emails and social media," Holt said. "I'm trying to put together a solid team in year one."
The Roughriders will compete in Region 16 but as the only NJCAA Division I program in the conference, they will not be eligible for the league title. The national meet this year will be in Tallahassee, Florida and will be in Joplin next year.
Another item that Holt is working on is with designing the uniform - which will be sponsored by Under Armour - with a local Neosho business.
"Trying to figure out the schedule and all the NJCAA rules and regulations and working with the athletic director," Holt said. "I went from knowing everything about what goes on in my sport to not knowing very much. It is a little overwhelming."
Holt has been around the East Newton running programs since 2001, when he started as a track assistant coach. He took over the head coaching role in 2014.
On the cross country side, he was only the program's second head coach. Kern Sorrell started it in 1997 and Holt, who was an assistant from 2002-2004, took over in 2005.
He has put together one of the better small-school programs that has won multiple Big 8 Conference championships in his tenure. He also has brought home four trophies in cross country The girls were second in 2008 and fourth in 2009 in Class 2, while the boys were third in 2019 and 2021 in Class 3.