Mount Union Senior Vincent Giumenti Named Printing Concepts Scholar Athlete of the Month
Written by the University of Mount Union Athletic Communications Department
Vincent Giumenti’s path to the University of Mount Union was not direct out of high school, but since becoming a Purple Raider the senior cross country runner has excelled on and off the racecourse now earning the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Printing Concepts Scholar Athlete of the Month.
Vince or Vinnie as most of his teammates call him, is a two-time NCAA cross country national qualifier, one-time NCAA Indoor Track and Field national qualifier, two-time OAC Champion, school record holder in the Distance Medley Relay, a United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honoree, along with being a two-time All-OAC Academic honoree and most recent earning his Commercial Pilot License for helicopters all while balancing a 3.85 GPA in Mechanical Engineering.
“Vince has helped rewrite the standard for us over the last four years. Not only in the sport but also how you balance athletics and academics,” said Associate Head Cross Country Coach Alek Erwin. “He has always had a very full plate with training, mechanical engineering and getting his helicopter license, but we have just tried to support him every step of the way the best we can.”
But before that all came about for Vince, he had decided to take a gap year before coming to college. He had started out working for a local company, Ventrac, and was able to see some of the research and development work the engineers were doing, this got him interested in mechanical engineering, but he also missed running and the atmosphere of being on a team.
Vince ended up at Mount Union after being recruited by Erwin and Head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Kevin Lucas. He began his freshman year in the COVID year when cross country was not being run, but for Vince this was his best-case scenario. He has always had a fascination with aviation, helicopter in particular. In high school he was able to go on an introductory helicopter flight and was able to fly the helicopter (with the help of an instructor) for the first time. He now had the opportunity to log flight hours to work towards being a pilot in the future on the weekend with no cross-country racing, but also be able to train and be in school during the week.
Over the past couple years Vince has gotten the full NCAA Division III experience with classroom experiences and through trips for meets. He has gone from traveling to Boston and Connecticut for cross country and track meets to building and testing a remote-controlled airboat on the water and building musical instruments that his group then performed with at Scholar Day.
But by far the coolest thing Vince has been able to do, with the thanks to his helicopter instructor, Daniel Boone, was flying across the country and being able to take his parents and friends flying with him which he commented that is the best thing ever to see them in the helicopter with him.
His trip started in Oregon and he flew across the country back to Ohio. Along the flight back, Vince got to land on gravel bars in rivers, fly around Mt. Rushmore, and stop in Chicago. The trip took about four days as they could usually fly 6-8 hours each day. The time he accrued from this trip accounted for most of his hours to become a pilot and without these hours he would be behind where he is today.
Vince has led the way for the Raiders over the past three seasons but couldn’t have done it without his training and racing partner Jeff Joseph. “We’ve been training partners his whole four years here and we’ve really developed a great balance with each other,” commented Joseph. “Vinny always showed up and seems to find a way to get me through workouts when I’m struggling. We both have learned how to push and help each other through workouts, races, and seasons. He’s made all the difficult work it takes to be better at running a lot easier and more enjoyable to go through for myself and the rest of the guys on the team. Myself and the team would not be what we are without him having decided to come here.”
Erwin added, “No matter how he races on the track or the course he has already accomplished so much. A lot of our growth in our program has come from our core group of guys over the last handful of years and Vinny is certainly one of those guys.”
As for future plans after college, right now Vince is looking to find a job as a pilot and continue building his flight time. He would eventually like to get a job fighting wildfires, or possibly as an Air Medical pilot once he has the required experience. He has also thought about trying to find a job where he could use his mechanical engineering background along with his flying experience to work as a test pilot for a helicopter manufacturer.
He hopes to continue to run for fun and maybe run a few races in the future but probably nothing too serious. He also enjoys cycling and mountain biking so there could be a few races in the future.
