Poyner Is The Way Of The Walk
By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews
WINONA LAKE – Jake Poyner has had championship aspirations since the day he stepped onto campus at Grace College. He’s putting that mindset into motion very quickly.
Poyner joined a quick-filling wall of champions at Grace as the latest coach to oversee a national championship squad, two in fact. Poyner’s men’s and women’s cross country teams were both champions at the NCCAA National Championships in November, the first titles of its kind for Grace cross country on either podium. Poyner, himself named the NCCAA Coach of the Year on both sides, saw the sudden success rewarding but also part of a bigger process for his two programs.
Poyner, speaking the week before the NAIA Nationals, referred to not taking away from his team’s focus of top finishes at the NAIAs in Washington state. Grace would wind up 15th in the women’s and 22nd in the men’s standings. It was just the third appearance at NAIA Nationals for the men and the first-ever trip for the women.
In just his third year as head coach at Grace, Poyner’s teams obviously are reaching heights unseen. Beginning with the postseason success, the team’s also joined the national rankings this season, the women in the NAIA poll for the first time ever. The team earned dozens of season accolades and Poyner was also an assistant coach on the men’s track team that won an NCCAA title last spring and the women’s program finishing runner-up.
The cross country titles this fall were the seventh and eighth NCCAA titles Grace has won as an athletic department, and the sixth since 2019.
“We had fun, we celebrated that day,” noted Poyner of the championship moment. “It’s definitely cool to be part of the ‘first’ for cross country, knowing we did something this year with both teams no one had done before. We know we want to move up the NAIA ladder, though. We also know there’s work to do in the conference. We were third in the women and fourth in the men. We need some growth there. Maybe we can catch those top-ranked teams.”
Poyner was a standout runner for Warsaw Community High School, part of the most successful stretch of history for the boys cross country team. The 2012 Tigers finished fourth at the IHSAA State Finals, its highest-ever finish, and Poyner was sixth overall at that state finals. He would later go on to run at Wake Forest University before transferring to Lipscomb University to finish his college career. Coming back to his hometown to coach in 2018 was a blessing, as being able to coach close to old friends and family has just enhanced the opportunity.
“The hard way is the right way,” noted Poyner. “It takes intentionality. With young adults, they need to find their way. With me, I had to find my fit, and I loved Wake to death, but a coaching change led to a culture change, and I didn’t feel like I fit. I keep that in mind here (at Grace). There’s school issues, classes, relationships, all the things they deal with.
“We just have to show we care. We came in and pushed the kids, some felt like it was too hard. But this is my recipe for being successful. We can’t let things slide, you have to own it. Being home is special to me, coming back to the community. But I didn’t come back just to be here. I came here to help these kids reach their potential and learn to win on and off the course.”