Preston Grey
The 2008 NAIA Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year Preston Grey is in his fifth season as the director of the Cougar men's and women's distance programs and his sixth year with Azusa Pacific.
Grey is coming off an outstanding season in which he guided Azusa Pacific cross country to its finish showing on the national stage in the programs' 44-year history. The Cougar women captured the 2008 NAIA national championship, their first-ever title, while the Cougar men were the NAIA national runner-up, and all of it was the result of Grey's design and training.
Known as an outstanding recruiter, Grey is even better as a teacher and coach. In just 5 seasons leading the Cougar distance teams he has already coached 8 cross country All-Americans (Jaime Canterbury, Renee Graham, Whitney Jacobsmeyer, Jacky Kipwambok, Forrest Lewton, Abednego Magut, Becca Reyes, Aron Rono). Included in the mix are Azusa Pacific's first-ever NAIA individual champions, Aron Rono (NAIA men's champion in 2007 and 2008) and Jaime Canterbury (NAIA women's champion in 2007). In addition, he has coached the top 3 Cougar female distance runners in school history and 4 of the top 5.
In track & field he has coached 10 All-Americans and 3 national champions, including Rono, the only person in track & field history to win collegiate championships in the 1500-, 5000-, and 10,000-meters in the same meet (2008 NAIA outdoors).
Grey came to Azusa Pacific in summer of 2004 as a graduate assistant coach, and the following year he took over a very sound and strong Cougar distance program. In his debut season as a head coach, he led the Cougar men to a fifth-place showing in the NAIA. The following year, his Cougars came in third in the NAIA men's championship meet for their best finish ever while the Cougar women returned to the top ten with a ninth-place finish. In 2007, the Cougar women continued to improve with a sixth-place effort, followed by the national championship performance in 2008.
Grey put together an outstanding 4-year distance running career at NAIA-member Cornerstone University of Grand Rapids, Mich. He was a 2-time qualifier for the NAIA cross country championship meet, earning All-American recognition during his 2003 senior season when he also clocked a school-record 24.48 8K. He was also a 2-time all-region and 3-time all-conference honoree.
In track & field, Grey was a 6-time qualifier for the NAIA championship meet and was a 2-time All-Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference honoree. He posted career bests of 31:22 (10,000 meters), 14:51 (5000 meters) and 8:46 (3000 meters).
A native of Penfield, Ill., near Champaign, Grey graduated from Cornerstone in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in business/sports management. In 2007 he earned master's degree in education from Azusa Pacific.
