Jake Krolick enters his fifth season in Canyon as the Head Cross Country Coach for the Buffs and Lady Buffs while also serving as an Assistant Track & Field Coach specializing in the distance events.
Krolick has solidified the Buffs cross country dominance of the LSC during his first four seasons at the helm by guiding the Buffs to their 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th consecutive Lone Star Conference championship. The 2020 season while shortened and unprecedented, saw no change in the Buffs dominance as the Buffs placed 5 runners in the top 13 finishers to win the LSC title by 41 points over Oklahoma Christian. The Buffs were led by 2020 LSC newcomer of the year Innocent Murwanashyaka’s runner-up performance. The Buffs also finished 3rd at the season ending national invite in 2020 which was a coaches led alternative to the NCAA championships which were not held in 2020. Krolick has also guided the Buffs, extending the streak to seven-consecutive appearances at the NCAA Championships in 2019 where the Buffs finished a program best 10th in Sacramento, CA. Ezekiel Kipchirchir led the way with the highest ever individual finish for a Buff with his 12thplace finish. Kipchirchir capped off a historic season after becoming the first Buff to win ultra-competitive NCAA South Central Regional two weeks prior on the Buffs home course in Canyon as the Buffs finished 4th to advance to the championships in Sacramento.
In 2018, Briggs Wittlake led the Buffs to a 15th place finish while finishing 32nd at the NCAA championships earning All-American honors and also picked up an All-South Central Region honor in addition to being named the LSC runner of the year. In 2017, Owen Hind won the Lone Star Conference title and also earned All-American honors by finishing 40th at the NCAA Championships becoming the second WT athlete to earn All-American in Cross Country. Hind was also named the LSC Men’s Academic Runner of the year. Briggs Wittlake was named LSC Freshman of the year and Ryan Thomson was named newcomer of the year. The Buffs would go on to finish 14th as a team.
The Lady Buffs have garnered 3 runner-up finishes at the LSC Championships during Krolick’s four seasons at the helm, including both years since the LSC merged with the Heartland conference more than doubling the field size. 2020 showed some promise for future national success though as Florance Uwajeneza emerged not only as the LSC individual champion, but also won the D2 national invite. Uwajeneza won the LSC title by a meet record 88 second margin of victory. In 2019, the Lady Buffs were Led by LSC Freshman of the Year Daphne Pate who had a breakout race finishing 3rd to lead the Lady Buffs along with 2 other All-LSC finishers. In Krolick’s first year in 2017 the Lady Buffs narrowly lost the LSC championship by one point to Tarleton State. Four Lady Buffs earned All-LSC Honors. At the NCAA South Central Regional, the Lady Buffs improved from 14th in 2016 to finish 7th in 2017. In 2018 the Lady Buffs picked up two more All-LSC honors and finished fourth at the LSC Championships and 23rd at the Regional.
The 2021 Indoor & Outdoor campaigns saw the Buffs & Lady Buffs displaying their highest levels of performance on the oval yet. Of the events contested over 800m at the national meet, the Lady Buffs broke 7 of 10 possible school records while the Buffs broke 3 of 10 school records. At the LSC Indoor Championships, the Lady Buffs won all 5 distance events while the Buffs won 4 of 5 distance events. The Lady Buffs scored 83 points in events 800m and up after scoring only 33 in 2020. The Buffs accumulated 87 points in the distance events. Both the Buffs and Lady Buffs won the 2021 Indoor LSC Championship title. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Lady Buffs qualified in the Distance Medley Relay for the first time in program history finishing 9th. Florance Uwajeneza became the first Lady Buff to contest the 3,000m and 5,000m runs at the NCAA Championships earning national runner-up in the 5k in a school record 16:10. An hour later she anchored the Lady Buffs school record setting DMR and less than 24 hours later, picked up her 2nd All-American honor of the meet in the 3,000m running her 3rd school record of the meet with a 9:23. The Lady Buffs finished 3rd as a team. Uwajeneza was also named LSC track athlete of the year. The Buffs also finished 3rd as a team at the 2021 NCAA indoor championships. Krolick coached 2 qualifiers in the 800m and Butare Rugenerwa & Arnaud Taki who both earned their first All-American honors with 3rd & 5th place finishes as the Buffs also finished on the podium for the first time with a 3rd place team finish.
During the outdoor campaign, Uwajeneza maintained her record setting spring with a win at the prestigious Texas Relays and a new school record at 5,000m. During the regular season, Uwajeneza would also qualify for the national meet in the 5,000m & 10,000m. Seselia Dala joined Uwajeneza at the 10,000m distance. Both were the first to represent WT at the NCAA Championships at 10,000m and finished 10th & 12th respectively. Combined they now own the top 6 times in program history in the event. Eleonora Curtabbi also qualified for the NCAA Championships with her performance at the WT Last Chance Meet in a school record 10:42. The lady Buffs won 3 events at the LSC Championships and scored 72 points contributing to the Lady Buffs dominating team title. For these efforts, Krolick was named USTFCCCA South Central Regional Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year. The Lady Buffs went on to finish 3rd at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Like Uwajeneza, Butare Rugenerwa finished runner-up at Texas Relays in the 800m breaking his own school record with a time of 1:48.33. Rugenerwa would run the 2nd fastest time in program 1500m while also winning the event at the LSC Championships. Rugenerwa became the first national champion that Krolick has coached at WT winning the 800m in dramatic fashion closing the last 400m in 52.98 to win at the line by 0.01. This was Krolick’s 2nd NCAA D2 national champion over 800m. The Buffs finished National-Runner Up at the NCAA Championships. The Buffs scored 94 points at the LSC Championships contributing to WT’s first ever Men’s LSC Outdoor Title. Ezekiel Kipchirchir won both the 10,000m and Steeplechase on the same day. Kipchirchir broke Owen Hind’s 5,000m school record during the 2021 campaign with a 14:04 at the GVSU Extra Weekend Meet. Kipchirchir also ran the 2nd fastest 10,000m (29:30) and 3,000m steeplechase (9:03) during the season. Arnaud Taki combined with Butare Rugenerwa to place 8 marks on the WT all-time top 10 list. Taki narrowly missed the 2021 NCAA Championships but redeemed himself with a new personal best and fastest time in 2021 in D2 of 1:48.22. Since the race occurred post NCAAs, the record does not stand as a WT record but gave WT 2 of the top 3 fastest D2 800m runners in 2021.
While COVID-19 cancelled the 2020 outdoor season, during the 2020 indoor season, Daphne Pate & Mallory Shehan both made the podium to help the Lady Buffs secure a 7th consecutive LSC title. On the men’s side, Ahmed Omer picked up the win in the 5,000m run at the LSC Championships and Arnaud Taki qualified for the postponed NCAA championships which was the 2nd fastest 800m in program history at the time. The Buffs finished 2nd at the LSC indoor championships. Outdoors in 2019 Butare Rugenerwa broke a 34 year old school record becoming the 1st Buff to run sub 1:50 as the redshirt freshman ran 1:49.78 at the WT Last Chance Meet which qualified him for the NCAA championships in Kingsville, TX where he finished 10th. Kelly McCaskill found success at the LSC championships finding herself with a runner-up finish in the 1500m after entering with the 17th best time in the conference and running in the slower heat. Highlighting the 2019 indoor season for the Buffs distance squad was the 23 points in the 3k in the penultimate event to put the Buffs up by 4 points heading into the 4x4 which would conclude with the Buffs winning the LSC team title. Erman Jepleting won the women’s mile contributing to the Lady Buffs 6th consecutive championship.
2018 was also a success as three Buffs qualified for the NCAA championships including Brandon Rivera – 800m, Ricky Harvie – 1500m, and Owen Hind – 5K. Owen Hind became the first WT distance runner to earn an outdoor All-American honor after grinding out a 7th place finish in the 5K in Charlotte, NC contributing to the Buffs 15th place team finish at NCAAs. Hind also set the school record in the 5K at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a 14:14.48 and was also named Men’s academic track & field athlete of the year. The Buffs won 3 of 5 distance events. The Lady Buffs had a successful outdoor campaign as Nikolina Hrelec won the 800m and 1500m at the LSC championships and Mallory Shehan and Erman Jepleting both earned spots on the podium at the LSC Championships. During the 2018 indoor season Ricky Harvie set the school record in the Mile (4:06.20) which he ran at the NCAA Championships after qualifying at the LSC Championships. The Buffs distance runners amassed 99 points at the LSC indoor championships and won 4 of 5 distance events. Ricky Harvie earned All-American Honors at the NCAA Championships with a 7th place finish in the mile contributing to the Buffs 16th place team finish at NCAAs. The Lady Buff distance runners also achieved during the indoor season where Nikolina Hrelec picked up victory in the Mile in 2018 and runner-up in the 800m contributing to the Lady Buffs team titles in both years.
Krolick comes to Canyon after a two-year stint at Texas A&M-Commerce where he guided the Lions cross country programs to program best finishes as the primary coach for the teams. On the track Krolick coached the 2016 NCAA II Indoor Track 800m National Champion Luis Romero. In total, Krolick coached 7 All-Americans, 22 All-LSC performers, and 6 LSC Champions. The Lion men won three LSC Track & Field Championships and finished the season in the nation’s top-10 three times while Krolickwas an assistant.
Prior to A&M-Commerce Krolick spent a year as an assistant at Pfeiffer University as well as at Edinboro University. Krolick competed for Edinboro University while studying math education where he competed at the NCAA cross country meet three times. Krolick then competed at Adams State University while working on his Master’s degree in Athletic Coaching for a year and ran a provisional qualifying mark in the 10,000m. The Arcade, New York native continues to train as well having narrowly missed qualifying for the US Olympic Marathon team trials in 2016 by 25 seconds. Krolick missed by an even narrower margin in 2020 missing the 2:19 standard by 14 hundredths of a second. He resides in Canyon.
