 Paul Vandersteen, Head Coach
Coach
Paul Vandersteen is in his 12th year at the helm of the NV cross country
program. Since the program's inception twelve years ago, it has grown to 115
men (160 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 seven years at the
IHSA State Meet, while winning the
state title in the fall of 2007. The 2007 team also formed a club called
the ‘Naperville Cross Country Club’ and won the Nike Team National title in
Portland, Oregon.
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 one 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 20 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 eleventh overall
year of coaching, James begins his seventh 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 third 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.
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 entering
his second year of what he hopes to be many, many
years of coaching high
school runners. He looks forward to helping
runners learn the
discipline and attitude that is necessary for being
successful both in
running and in life.
 Michael
Rossi, Assistant Coach
Coach
Mike Rossi has been stealing office supplies from Neuqua Valley since
2004. Now in his second 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!
Arnoush Javaherian, Assistant Coach
Biography coming soon…….
L-R: Coach Saul,
Coach Janota, Coach Rohde, Coach Vandersteen.
Coach Rossi and Coach Javaherian are not pictured.
Former Coaches for NV:
 Jim
Dickerson, Assistant Coach (now a counselor at Glenbard North 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.
Joe
Nemeth, Assistant Coach (now a math teacher at Andrew High School)
Coach
Joe Nemeth begins his 3rd year as a member of the Neuqua Valley Cross Country
staff. 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 is also the throws coach for
the Neuqua Valley Mens’ Track & Field team.
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 14th
in the State cross-country meet. As a
senior, 1995, Tony placed 8th.
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, 4x800, 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
is coaching cross-country for his first year.
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.
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