Coaches

Paul Vandersteen, Head Coach

Coach Paul Vandersteen is in his 14th year at the helm of the NV cross country program. Since the program’s inception fourteen years ago, it has grown to 168 men (210 men are part of the summer program, grades 5-12) and is regarded as one of the top programs in the State.  The Wildcats have placed in the top 15 the last ten years at the IHSA State Meet, while winning the State title in the fall of 2007 and 2009 and finishing 3rd in 2010 and 2011. Under the Naperville South name, The 2007, 2009, and 2010 teams also qualified for the Nike Cross Country National competition in Portland, Oregon, and were national champions in ’07 and placed 12th in ’09 and ’10.

An avid runner since the age of nine, his age-group performances ranked him nationally in all distance events.  As a 6th grader, he ran 4:58 for a mile and he was the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Champion at the age of 14.  In 8th grade, he ran a 4:42 mile and ran 33:00 for a certified 6 mile race.  As a high school sophomore, he was an All-State performer in cross country (12:29 for 2.5 miles) while attending Bloomington South High School in Bloomington, Indiana.  After moving, and graduating from Sterling H.S. in Sterling, Illinois, he went on to compete at Northern Illinois University his freshman year before the program was eliminated due to budget cuts. He went on to compete briefly at The University of Iowa where he received his degree in exercise science with an emphasis in science education.

Coach Vandersteen has twenty three years of coaching experience. His coaching resume includes the head women’s track and field coach and assistant cross country coach at Peoria Notre Dame High School and the assistant women’s track and field coach at Pekin Community High School. After moving to the suburbs of Chicago, he coached the hurdlers and distance runners at Waubonsie Valley High School before transferring to Neuqua Valley. He has had numerous state qualifiers and 26 state placers during his coaching career.

James Janota, Assistant Coach

James Janota has been active in Cross Country and Track and Field since the age of 10.  He graduated from Holy Cross High School in 1994 and remains one of the most accomplished runners in that school’s history, earning most valuable honors four out of his eight total seasons.  He earned both of his degrees from Dominican University; a Bachelor’s degree in English Education in 1998 and a Master’s degree in Educational Administration in 2002.

James began his professional career at Saint Patrick High School in Chicago where he served as both an Assistant Cross Country Coach for two years and an Assistant Track and Field Coach for four years.  In 2000, Dominican University, his alma mater, sanctioned its first Cross Country Team in its over 100 year history, and James was tapped to head up both the men’s and women’s programs.  During his tenure for both these schools, he has coached numerous athletes who have become conference champions and state qualifiers.

Now in his thirteenth overall year of coaching, James begins his ninth year at Neuqua Valley as both a member of the Men’s Cross Country and Men’s Track and Field coaching staffs.  Coach Janota is responsible for the success of the distance runners in the spring.  He also loves funnel cakes and spicy chickens from Wendy’s.

Steve Saul, Assistant Coach

Coach Steve Saul is beginning his fifth year as an English teacher and assistant cross country coach at Neuqua Valley High School. Coach Saul graduated from Illinois State University in May of 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in English education. A native of Lisle, Il, Coach Saul attended Benet Academy and graduated in 2001. Initially, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with an aspiration to be an architect, but switched majors and schools after an introductory education class evoked a passion for teaching and working with youth.

Coach Saul’s competitive running career spanned from a race he entered “just for fun” in fourth grade to his junior year of college. At Benet, he was a freshman/sophomore captain for his first two years and a varsity captain as a junior and senior. Senior year, Coach Saul led his team to an East Suburban Catholic Conference championship and qualified for the state cross country meet as an individual. His best 3 mile high school time was 14:34. Also an avid track runner, coach Saul was a varsity track captain in high school and qualified for state with his 4x800m relay team and as an individual in the 1600m run (personal best 4:24).

A competitive collegiate running career at UWM provided Coach Saul with a wealth of Division I experience as he participated in meets that featured perennial powerhouses such as Colorado, Wisconsin, Stanford, and Michigan. As team captain during his sophomore cross-country season, Coach Saul earned all-league honors as he led his team to a fourth place finish. After transferring to Illinois State to pursue his degree in education, Coach Saul ended his collegiate running career with personal bests in the Mile (4:17) the 8000m run (25:30) and the 5000m run (14:53). He is currently training for marathons and continues to run recreationally.

Michael Rossi, Assistant Coach

Coach Mike Rossi has been stealing office supplies from Neuqua Valley since 2004.  Now in his fourth year as an assistant coach, Rossi is well on his way to realizing his dream of getting kicked out of every high school running program in Naperville.  He is our esteemed freshman coach.  Coach Rossi is the 2008 NVHS team leader in bad haircuts and still holds several Naperville records for getting turned down for a date by Tara Grodowski (15 times in 2002—a personal best!).  He enjoys cellular respiration and making up witty comebacks in his head for taunts that happened to him 10 years ago.  Oh, and his mother tells him he’s handsome, so in your face, Coach Saul!

 Lee Woolley, Assistant Coach

Lee began running as a sophomore at Galesburg Senior High School, in Galesburg, IL.  He was a middle of the pack runner until becoming serious about the sport prior to his senior year of high school, which was his first year of cross
country.  Lee also ran track his senior year, running a personal best of 9:34 for 3200m, finishing 2 seconds behind Coach Vandersteen at the regional State Qualifying meet.  Lee ran for Al Carius (the NCAA Div III Cross Country Coach of
the Century) at North Central College in Naperville, IL.  As a freshman he ran a 3 mile time trial in 14:50 before the start of the season.  Over the next three years, Lee was sidelined by a series of injuries, but remained involved in the
sport by coaching the distance squad of Galesburg Senior High.

After college, he ran with the North Central College Track Club for about 12 years, running two marathons, countless road races, and mile after mile on the Prairie Path while enjoying the camaraderie of training his buddies.  Lee has used his
fitness to ride his bike from Duluth, MN to Chicago with his NCC Track Club friends and ridden from Naperville to Galesburg (182 miles) in a day.  He’s also climbed numerous mountains, including Mount Rainier.

Professionally, Lee has worked for The Northern Trust Company for over 25 years, where he is the Managing Director of Advisory Services.  Lee and his family recently returned to Naperville, having spent the last 5 years in Boston as the President of The Northern Trust Bank of Massachusetts.  Lee is also currently on the Board of Trustees of North Central College.

Lee’s profession permits only part-time involvement with the NVXC program, but he has a full-time passion for
the sport.  His running mantra comes straight from Al Carius – “Run for Fun and Personal Bests!”
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Former Coaches for NV:

Arnoush Javaherian, Assistant Coach

Coach “Java” has been a member of the Neuqua Valley Cross Country staff since 2008. After a brief stint as an assistant football coach, Java decided to try his hand at cross country in the fall. He also started Neuqua Valley’s Ultimate Frisbee club, which is very popular in the spring. Java assists Coach Rossi in working with our Freshmen athletes. He also enjoys the city of Chicago, pop music, and comedy films.

 Jim Dickerson, Assistant Coach (now a counselor at Hinsdale South H.S.)

Jim Dickerson graduated from Peoria Notre Dame High School in 1991. In 1989, the Peoria Notre Dame cross-country team finished 7th at state. He graduated from North Central College in 1995 with a major in English Literature.

While at North Central, he ran on 2 national championship cross-country teams and 1 national championship track team for Coach Al Carius. He currently holds the school record in the steeple chase and was an All-American in the 1500, steeplechase, 1500 meters, 10,000 meters during his tenure there. He was the second man on the best cross-country team in North College history in 1994, and was an all-American twice. He placed 3rd individually in 1994.

Since college he has continued to run and coach. 2006-07 will be his 10th year teaching and 9th year coaching cross-country at Neuqua Valley High School. He brings with him other coaching experiences as well, having also coached at North Central College and College of DuPage.

Chris Rohde, Assistant Coach

Chris Rohde graduated from Marmion Academy in Aurora in 2001. While there he ran PR’s of 15:27 for 3 miles, and 1:58 for 800m. During his senior year the 4 x 800m relay team placed 10th in the state and set a school record of 7:55.

Coach Rohde then paused for a year at the University of Illinois before transferring to North Central College in Naperville to continue his running career. While there, his love for running continued to grow and the desire to become a coach emerged. While under the guidance of head coach Al Carius, Chris improved his PR’s to 26:47 for 8k and 1:56 for 800m. Along the way Coach Rohde earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics with minors in Secondary Education and Physics.

Upon graduating from NCC in 2005, Coach Rohde headed to the University of Kansas in Lawrence. While there he taught introductory college mathematics courses while pursuing his own advanced degree. In May of 2007 he graduated with his Master’s Degree in Mathematics.

Coach Rohde is now the head xc coach at Metea Valley High School. He looks forward to helping runners learn the discipline and attitude that is necessary for being successful both in running and in life.

Joe Nemeth, Assistant Coach (now a math teacher at Andrew High School)

Coach Nemeth ran for Richwoods High School in Peoria, Illinois. After graduating from Western Illinois University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Education, he accepted a job at Dixon High School. Coach Nemeth was the boys and girls cross country coach and the distance coach for the boys track team during his 4 years there. During those years he continued to build the boys and girls programs, which began with only 16 combined members in 1999. The Dixon boys cross country team won the NCIC championship in 2002 and Coach Nemeth had athletes qualify in the 4x 800, 800, and 3200m for the Illinois State Track & Field Championships. Under the guidance of ITCCCA hall of fame head coach Rich Lawton, the Dixon boys won 6 NCIC outdoor track championships from 1999-2004. Coach Nemeth will always be grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a great program immediately after college.

He completed his Masters in Mathematics Education from the University of Michigan before arriving at Neuqua Valley in 2004.  Coach Nemeth was also the throws coach for the Neuqua Valley Mens’ Track & Field team.  He is now the head track and field coach at Carl Sandburg High School.

Tony Rizzo, Assistant Coach (now an English teacher, girls track coach at Aurora West High School)
Tony Rizzo graduated from Schaumburg High School in 1995.  In 1994, he was 14^th in the State cross-country meet.  As a senior, 1995, Tony placed 8^th.  Injuries prevented Tony from reaching his track and field goals, but North Central College had some “plans” for him in the future.

While attending North Central College, he broke into the top 7 as a freshman running a 25:30 8K for most of the year.  Inexperience took him out of the hunt for Nationals that cross-country season.  During track, mono kept him from competing.  Developing a chip on his shoulder and a drive for success, Tony trained and out trained his opponents that next summer.  Following Matt Brill’s National Championship cross-country season, Tony placed 6th as a sophomore running a 24:25 8K.  This set the stage for his career at North Central.  After that, it was one national place after another.  With a pr 1500 of 3:46x and an 800 meters 1:50x, track became the main focus.  Tony was captain of 2 National Championship cross-country teams, placing 6th and 10th individually, and 1 National Championship Track team.  The 1998 North Central College Track team set a National record at the meet scoring 98 points.  Tony has compiled 11 All-American honors while at North Central College, tying the school record for most All-Americans earned.  He currently holds the school record for the indoor 1500 meters, 4×800, and is 4th on the all-time list for 800 meters

After North Central College, Tony enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.  Making a difference became a priority in Tony’s life.  This decision may have ended Tony’s running career.  Due to certain injuries, 6 surgeries have been completed with a few more around the corner.

Tony coached at NV one year and is now coaching at West Aurora.  Tony has coached track in the past with the most recent season coming from Oswego High School.  Streamwood High School set the stage for his coaching career with an all-state performance by his relay.

Kyle Brady, Assistant Coach

Kyle is in his first season assistant coaching at Neuqua Valley after “graduating” from North Central College this past spring. Kyle is student teaching this fall in the physical education department at Neuqua Valley. Kyle went to high school in Wheaton, Illinois at Wheaton Warrenville South. He was a 2-time state qualifier in track in the 3200m and ran on two state teams in cross country.

After high school Kyle decided to continue his running at nearby North Central College. After a miserable first two years that included all time lows in North Central history, Kyle saw much success in his last two years of college, accumulating 7 All-American honors including 2 individual national championships in the Indoor 5k and Outdoor 10k. After experiencing the worst in North Central history, Kyle experienced the all-time high that included a triple crown (XC, indoor and outdoor track national championships) and two NCAA records in cross country (7 All-Americans, biggest margin of victory).  After “graduating” from NCC with PR’s of 8:22 (3k), 14:27 (5k), 24:24 (8k XC), and 30:03 (10k), Kyle looks to continue his running with the Chicago Marathon this fall and beyond. Along with running Kyle enjoys push-ups, core club, lifting, hip strength, P90x, stretching, icing, and getting a full 9 hours of sleep a night.

Brian Wurtz, Assistant Coach

“Coach” Wurtz has been to several practices at Neuqua Valley, but has yet to attend a meet. Rumors of his collegiate running career abound, including a famous kickig down of Coach Brady once in school. He has been too busy drafting his own biography to lead core. Wurtz also likes “California Gurlz.”