Track and Field

Curtis Vais

Head Coach--Men's and Women's Track & Field/Cross Country

Coach Vais enters his 5th year as the Head Men's and Women's Track and Field Coach.  In Vais' five years overseeing the program, NIACC Track and Field has produced 1 Individual National Champion, 15 US Citizen All-Americans, 3 NJCAA All-Americans, along with a number of All-Region athletes.

 

Prior to NIACC, Coach Vais served as assistant track and field coach at the College of DuPage, a NJCAA Division III school.  While at DuPage, the women's team won the 2004 Outdoor NJCAA Division III National Championship while the men's team finished second nationally.  The 2004 squad was recently inducted to the NJCAA Region 24 Hall of Fame.

 

Coach Vais is a graduate of Mount St. Clare College (now The Ashford University) in Clinton, Iowa where he was an All-Conference and NAIA National Qualifier in Track and Field.  He and his wife, Michele, reside in Charles City with their son, Jacob.

 

vaiscurt@niacc.edu
641-422-4246

 

 

Shawn Sponheim

Assistant Men's & Women's Track & Field Hurdle Coach

 

    Shawn enters his second year as the hurdles coach at NIACC.  Shawn 

    graduated from St. Ansgar High School in 2000, where he was a district

    champion and three time Corn Bowl Conference champion in the 110m

    High Hurdles. He qualified for the Iowa State Track meet in the 400m

    Low Hurdles and finished 4th in the 110m High Hurdles.

 

     After taking a year to concentrate on classes, Shawn walked-on to the
    Iowa State University Track and Field team. he was a member of the
    Shuttle Hurdle Relay team that competed at the Drake Relays in 2004.

    Shawn lives south of St. Ansgar where he is the Pioneer Hi-Bred Seed Dealer. He also works part-time as an Investment Advisor at Miller & Associates in Mason City.

Rachelle Baillon

Assistant Men's & Women's Track & Field  Coach

 

Rachelle begins her first year of coaching at NIACC.  She has previously coached at her alma mater, Eagan High School, in the Twin Cities Area.  Rachelle graduated from Eagan High School in 2003 and received All-State Honors her junior and senior years before attending the University of Minnesota.  Rachelle was a four year member of the Golden Gopher Track team as an 800m middle distance runner.  After graduating in 2007, Rachelle attended graduate school at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she received her Master's Degree in Journalism. 

 

Rachelle moved to North Iowa in March of 2009 and is currently a reporter at KIMT-TV.

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