INFO | Complete USTFCCCA national XC awards release
 
New Orleans, La.----Wingate University's Pol Domenech is the 2023 NCAA Division II men's cross country national Coach of the Year, as named by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The fourth-year Wingate head coach led his Bulldogs to the NCAA Division II men's cross country national championship over the most recent weekend.
 
Wingate defeated two-time defending NCAA Division II national champion Colorado School of Mines 70-79 to take its first D2 men's cross country title. Two Bulldogs finished in the top 10: freshman Hamza Chahid (fourth, 29:15.3) and senior Soheil Boufrizi (10th, 29:34.2). Wingate was the only team with five All-Americans.
 
What They Are Saying about Pol Domenech
Wingate director of cross country and track and field Matt van Lierop
 
"The Wingate University XCTF staff is honored that the rest of the nation agrees with how we already see Pol…the best of the best. The first thing I said to Pol as the results revealed themselves to us after the nationals' finish…was how proud I am of him. What the nation doesn't see is how hard he works, tirelessly recruiting and meticulously grinding out the perfect individual training program week-after-week for each and every one of his 60-plus runners."
 
"Pol cares about every single one of his runners and I know they care about him as well. This XC team is a family and we cannot wait to see what Pol has planned for indoors, outdoors and the next XC season. When we arrived at Wingate in 2019, I made a guarantee to the team and the administration that the University would win a national championship under my watch. I could not be prouder of Pol leading the men to fulfill this destiny."
 
Pol Domenech quick hits
USTFCCCA NCAA Division II men's XC Coach of the Year (2023)
3x SAC and SER men's XC Coach of the Year (2021, 2022, 2023)
2x SAC women's XC Coach of the Year (2021, 2022)
1x SER women's XC Coach of the Year (2023)
 
- Led Wingate men to '23 NCAA D2 national championship
- Mentored Bulldog women to an eighth-place showing at '23 nationals
- Coached both Wingate XC teams to SAC and SER XC championships this year
- Achieved the same feat in '22, as the Bulldogs swept the SAC and SER titles
- Helped men's XC team finish second in the '23 Paul Short Run at Lehigh
- Forty-three teams competed in the PSR Gold Division as WU defeated 34 D1 teams
 
Domenech adds his name to WU national Coach of the Year list
 
Pol Domenech is the sixth Wingate head coach to earn NCAA national Coach of the Year honors. The others are:
 
- Jeff Gregory, baseball (2021)
- Michael Cabana, women's tennis (2019)
- Gary Hamill, men's soccer (2016)
- Kirk Sanocki, women's swimming (2016); men's swimming (2012)
- Shelton Collier, volleyball (2013)
 
In addition, current men's lacrosse head coach Tim Boyle was named the national Coach of the Year in 2012 when he led Dowling (N.Y.) to a national championship.
 
Wingate University
 
Wingate University is a lab of difference-making that serves more than 3,400 students in North Carolina and offers 60 degree pathways, including 37 undergraduate majors, 10 pre-professional tracks and five dual-degree programs. Graduate students choose from seven master's and five doctoral programs. The University is home to the Cannon College of Arts and Sciences, the Levine College of Health Sciences, the Byrum School of Business, the Thayer School of Education and the School of Sport Sciences.
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a leader in healthcare education where nearly one in five undergraduate students is preparing to be a pharmacist, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist or nurse. Student-athletes on Wingate's 25 teams compete in NCAA Division II and have brought home the SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award the past 15 times it has been awarded. The University's motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Service." View current news and videos at www.wingate.edu.
 
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(Editor's note: Wingate University assistant director of athletics for athletic communications Hugh Patton contributed information to this article.)