Trinity Prep Coach Ken Vinal Leads Both On And Off The Course


Although it is a small school of less than 900 students in grades 6-12, Trinity Prep has been a statewide cross-country powerhouse for several years. The Saints have finished in the top two at states in 1A for the last five years and a huge portion of that success is due to coach Ken Vinal.Vinal is not only the cross-country coach for Trinity Prep. He also works as the school’s chaplain; he leads weekly chapel services, teaches religion classes, and conducts prayers before assemblies.

Affectionately called “Chappy” by his team, Vinal follows a strict preference in balancing his duties as coach and chaplain. He said, “The reason I’m here is because I’m the chaplain and not because I’m the cross-country coach, so that has to take priority.”

 It is often difficult for Chappy to balance his responsibilities because his job as chaplain doesn’t have set hours. The job is often unpredictable and requires a great amount of work behind the scenes.

While it is difficult to not make connections between his two important roles at the school, Chappy tries to limit his comparisons.  “I recognize that not every kid on the team is Christian, so I don’t ever want to stress things that perhaps would make somebody who is not a Christian feel like they are being excluded,” he said, “but I do use Christian aspects, particularly some of the things we do for motivation when we are at our annual summer running camp in Brevard, North Carolina.”

By working as his student assistant, senior cross-country captain Gordon Pace has seen both sides of Coach Vinal’s job, and he agrees that “Chappy balances being a coach and a chaplain well” and “he takes all his roles seriously, but he generally keeps them separate.”  Pace did add that Vinal “will occasionally say a team prayer or inspire us with a verse from the Bible, but other than that he is just a coach (and a very good one) during practice.”  

Daniel Salas, another captain for the Saints, agrees that Vinal’s work as a chaplain can often contribute to the cross-country team. “His determination and faith are inspiring to us all,” said the senior.

Vinal has ways to motivate his team beyond religious comparisons.  Every year he makes a flexible motivational plan that corresponds to the personality of the team.  Vinal stated, “You have to adapt to what is going on within the team and their life in order to get better, more appropriate motivation.”

Hel relies on upperclassmen to provide leadership to their teammates.  “Even though we have a bunch of seniors and juniors, we also have some very young guys, and the older guys teach what it means to be on Trinity Prep’s cross-country team.  The things that you have to do, the sacrifices you have to make, and the standard of work that we have.”

 Trinity Prep has a tough road ahead of them if they want to defeat defending 1A state champions Holy Trinity, but Chappy knows that his team has a shot if they continue to improve.  “This year has been an exciting year because I can see the raw talent is there.”  Vinal went on to say, “We’re still trying to get better, knowing that we’re making progress, so the goal is just to keep getting better.”

Vinal’s objective for the team is ambitious: “We want to win a state championship.”  He admits that, at this point, “we’re catching up to where Holy Trinity is, but we are nowhere near as good as they are.” While winning their fifth cross-country state championship seems like a difficult task, Trinity Prep knows that under the leadership of their multifaceted coach Ken Vinal, they can accomplish anything.

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