To view jump down to a specific year, click on the link below:
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
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2001
Our first team to qualify for State was in the fall of 2001, the 3rd year with seniors on the team (NVHS was founded in the fall of 1997). We easily qualified by placing 5th in the Rich East Sectional meet, beating Andrew by almost 40 pts. Ben Barron, our #2 runner, had a serious sinus infection and the State meet was his 2nd race back. We were determined to turn it around after others on the team also battled illness earlier in the year. It was the leadership of Greg Wittendorf and the determination of Evan Roberts that was largely responsible for the turn-around. We beat 3/4 teams that beat us at Sectionals to finish a very respectable 10th.
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10th Place – 326 Points |
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| Evan Roberts | 15:28 | 47th | Senior | |
| Ben Barron | 15:49 | 94th | Junior | |
| Greg Wittendorf | 15:54 | 103rd | Senior | |
| Nick Dunn | 15:55 | 105th | Sophomore | |
| Dan Box | 16:02 | 128th | Sophomore | |
| David Krist | 16:03 | 130th | Sophomore | |
| Rob Long | 17:25 | 250th | Junior | |
| L-R (front) Rob Long, David Krist, Nick Dunn, Greg Wittendorf (back) Dan Box, Ben Barron, Evan Roberts | ||||
2002
This team started off the season ranked 4th in the State! And, unlike the year before, we almost won the Rich East Sectional title while being edged out by Naperville North by 4 pts. At the very least, we were hoping for a top 7-8 finish. Obviously, this did not happen. The men can attest that I have never been more disappointed after a race. Ben and Nick ran great and the other five had very poor races. It was because of this race that we were determined to turn it around the following year. Ben Barron was our first all-state runner and Nick Dunn passed 80 guys the last two miles to almost finish all-state.
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15th Place – 368 Points |
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| Ben Barron | 15:02 | 24th | Senior | |
| Nick Dunn | 15:13 | 29th | Junior | |
| David Krist | 16:01 | 124th | Junior | |
| Will Fortin | 16:19 | 160th | Senior | |
| Dan Box | 16:25 | 172nd | Junior | |
| Bryan Kruszka | 16:23 | 168th | Senior | |
| Rob Long | 16:46 | 217th | Senior | |
| L-R Kevin Pojman, Nick Dunn, Ben Barron 2nd row: Rob Long, Dan Box 3rd row: Will Fortin, Bryan Kruszka | ||||
2003
The seniors on this team were determined to do great things. Junior Joe Bergelin had recovered from last season’s stress fracture, senior Geoff Houtman was learning how to run xc, and senior Rick Burke ran an amazing race to become our 5th man. The season was defined by senior Dan Box’s determination to not let history repeat itself. Senior Nick Dunn was our most vocal and effective leader to-date and senior David Krist rebounded from a leg injury to give us momentum going into the State meet. We were conference champions and ran a phenomenal race at Sectionals after a poor showing at Regionals the week before. Naperville North again beat us for the Sectional title but we beat them at State. Lyons and Palatine had great races from a sophomore to beat us by 18 pts. for 2nd place. Nick Dunn ran faster than any District 204 runner in history to finish All-State. Geoff Houtman broke 15:00 to narrowly miss All-State honors. Another defining characteristic of this team was that we were 8 guys strong. I had to make a very difficult decision to replace junior Kevin Pojman, with junior Ryan Miller, after he ran poorly at the Sectional meet. Kevin’s enthusiasm and support for his teammates was another reason we ran well at State.
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4th Place – 195 Points |
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| Nick Dunn | 14:46 | 11 | Senior | |
| Geoff Houtman | 14:59 | 27 | Senior | |
| Dan Box | 15:25 | 62nd | Senior | |
| Joe Bergelin | 15:28 | 71st | Junior | |
| Rick Burke | 15:37 | 101st | Senior | |
| Ryan Miller | 15:47 | 132nd | Junior | |
| David Krist | 15:50 | 138th | Senior | |
| L-R Dan Box, Geoff Houtman, Nick Dunn | ||||
2004
The 2004 team had no superstars. They lived via a strong pack and they worked their tail-ends off under the leadership of senior Kevin Pojman. Our 1-5 split was 20 seconds!!! We returned 3 guys from our 4th place 2003 team, but the evil IT Band Syndrome prevented seniors Joe Bergelin and Ryan Miller from doing their best. Add a bad sinus infection to Kevin’s plate, and this team did not have any full-strength returnees from the year before. A core group of juniors and senior Mike Nutt stepped up to lead us to a 14th place finish. We almost stole the conference crown that year with Kevin running the race of his career. Junior Spenser Murakami emerged to become our #1 man through the State series. The State meet temperature was relatively warm and the ground was very soggy; subsequently, the times were slower than most State meets.
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14th Place – 435 Points |
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| Spenser Murakami | 15:50 | 78th | Junior | |
| Mike Nutt | 16:04 | 116th | Senior | |
| Kevin Pojman | 16:05 | 120th | Senior | |
| Alake Kashyap | 16:09 | 131st | Junior | |
| Ryan Miller | 16:10 | 133rd | Senior | |
| Mike Winek | 16:49 | 216th | Junior | |
| Eric Olen | 16:49 | 217th | Junior | |
| L-R: Joe Bergelin, Eric Olen, Matt Britten, Mike Winek, Mike Nutt, Alake Kashyap, Ryan Miller, Kevin Pojman, Spenser Murakami | ||||
2005
The 2005 team was led by the closest and largest group of seniors to date. Their presence was felt as this team surprised everyone. Senior Mike Winek came down with a stress fracture in late June but seniors Matt Britten and James Nuxoll trained hard during the summer and became consistent top-5 performers. Sophomore Chris Derrick mimicked their work ethic and improved by over 3 minutes from his freshman year to emerge as our number one man. The conditions were ideal for the race with temperatures in the high 40’s. Chris Derrick ran an extremely gutsy race and senior Alake Kashyap took a chance and pushed the 2nd mile. The greatest mystery was Spenser’s inability to get out of the race doldrums, but his work ethic will rank him as one of our all-time greats.
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10th Place – 313 Points |
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| Chris Derrick | 15:06 | 43rd | Sophomore | |
| Alake Kashyap | 15:25 | 81st | Senior | |
| Matt Britten | 15:29 | 89th | Senior | |
| James Nuxoll | 15:38 | 108th | Senior | |
| Tony Parast | 15:56 | 141st | Junior | |
| Spenser Murakami | 15:59 | 158th | Senior | |
| Eric Olen | 16:00 | 163rd | Senior | |
| Seniors on the 2005 team. L-R back: Ryan Donahue, Brian Rooney, Matt Britten, Ali Kagalwalla, Steve Arves, Joe Murphy, Mike Winek, Andrew Heinz, Sean Parker, Dan Murphy, Jon Peters, Eric Olen, Alake Kashyap, Andrew Dunham, AndrewDonivan, James Nuxoll L-R front: Zach Splan, David Duncan, Spenser Murakami, John Rusch | ||||
2006
Wow, what an amazing performance considering we only returned our first man from the prior year (Chris Derrick). Senior Tony Parast (5th man on the 2005 team) injured his hip early, and was never able to contribute. We had two All-State performances and four of our top five set pr’s to enable us to finish 9th. All seven men return for the 2007 season! Junior Chris Derrick ran a perfect race to finish 3rd overall running the fastest time (14:21.6) in District 204 history by 25 seconds! Junior Jimmy Riddle also broke the all-time District 204 mark by running 14:44.2. Jimmmy came down with the same virus as other team members, but still managed to run well. Junior Kevin Grady and sophomore Danny Pawola were on their way to recovery while junior Josh Budnik still had the virus during the race. Sophomore Brian Morenus had the greatest improvement from early season meets, running a solid 5th man for us. Junior Mike Ruff ran a great race to finish under 15:30. We won Conference in dramatic fashion 3 weeks earlier, only to have WV and StCN kick our tails by taking 5th and 2nd respectively. As I preached to the guys through the State series, “anything is possible in one week”. Regardless, I was proud of our effort on this day, especially when I reflected on how far we had progressed in one year.
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9th Place – 300 Points |
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| Chris Derrick | 14.21.6 | 3rd | Junior | |
| Jim Riddle | 14:44.2 | 20th | Junior | |
| Mike Ruff | 15:29.2 | 107th | Junior | |
| Danny Pawola | 15:41.6 | 135th | Sophomore | |
| Brian Morenus | 15:44.2 | 142nd | Sophomore | |
| Kevin Grady | 15:58.6 | 179th | Junior | |
| Josh Budnik | 16:26.4 | 219th | Junior | |
| L-R: Jimmy Riddle, Mike Ruff, Danny Pawola, Chris Derrick, Kevin Grady, Josh Budnik, Brian Morenus | ||||
2007
A storybook season! We worked our tails off during the summer and entered the season with optimism after some of the guys put up some great times during the track season. We started the year off with a bang, winning the Hornet-Red Devil and Peoria Woodruff Invite in convincing fashion. We then encountered the obstacle of not running with our number two guy, Jimmy Riddle, who was diagnosed with a stress fracture. Aaron Beattie, a sophomore, took his place and we ran the best team time in Culver Invitational history the third week of September. We would go unbeaten. At the Conference meet, we went 1,2,3, against WV and StCN who would later finish 4th and 6th at the State meet. Jimmy ran in the State meet but ran out of gas the last 300m. Luckily, Josh ran his usual steady race and we were able to out-distance York by 19 points. Three guys finished all-state and Kevin Grady ran the race of his life to narrowly miss this honor. Chris Derrick was also the individual champion, running one of the fastest times ever run at Detweiller (13:51.8). His time ranks 2nd all-time at Detweiller and the best time ever run since the course was changed in 2005. After the IHSA season, the guys ran under the club name, Naperville South, and won the Nike Team Regional Meet in Terre Haute, IN. and qualified for the NXN meet in Portland, Oregon. Ranked #1 in the nation, they did not disappoint by winning the national championship and capping off an unbeaten season that may never be matched by another Illinois team.
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State Champs – 86 Points |
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| Chris Derrick | 13:51.8 | 1st | Senior | |
| Danny Pawola | 14:33.4 | 8th | Junior | |
| Aaron Beattie | 14:44.2 | 13th | Sophomore | |
| Kevin Grady | 14:58.4 | 27th | Senior | |
| Josh Budnik | 15:25.9 | 66th | Senior | |
| Jim Riddle | 15:42.9 | 86th | Senior | |
| Bryan Winek | 15:46.9 | 95th | Junior | |
| 2007 State Champions. L-R (front) Luke Verbus, Bryan Winek, Jimmy Riddle. L-R (back) Coach Vandersteen, Mike Ruff, Coach Rohde, Brian Morenus, Connor Shields, Robert James, Kevin Grady, Josh Budnik, Aaron Beattie, Chris Derrick, Danny Pawola, Coach Rossi, Coach Saul, Coach Janota | ||||
2008
I learned a lot as a coach during this season. I learned one can never take anything for granted and I was reminded that hard work has no substitutes. We finished this season as possibly the best fourth place team in the history of Illinois. Again, we ran this race with our second man running his first race in over a month. This time, it was Aaron Beattie who was overcoming IT issues. He still managed to run 15:03. During the season, we won three major invitationals and repeated as conference champions. We raced inconsistently throughout the season. Luckily, we did what was possible on the day of the State meet. We were only 4 points out of first at the two mile mark but faded to finish a distant fourth. No regrets. We competed but a trophy just was not in the cards this year. Danny Pawola finished fifth overall to earn his second all-state honor. Only he and Chris Derrick have ever achieved this distinction in our program.
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4th Place – 146 Points |
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| Danny Pawola | 14:31.3 | 5th | Senior | |
| Aaron Beattie | 15:03.4 | 30th | Junior | |
| Brian Morenus | 15:10.2 | 36th | Senior | |
| Luke Verbus | 15:18.3 | 56th | Junior | |
| Connor Shields | 15:18.7 | 57th | Senior | |
| Harsha Torke | 15:28.0 | 74th | Sophomore | |
| Bryan Winek | 15:33.0 | 92nd | Senior | |
| Danny Pawola, third from right, battles for the lead at the State meet | ||||
2009
We gathered at the River Run subdivision country club house in early June to talk about why we train the way we do and to establish some common goals. Repeatedly, I heard the guys say, ‘we want to win the State championship’. We trained smart and consistently all summer and the team bonded like no other I have ever coached. Running Times magazine decided to follow us throughout the season and a story appeared in their magazine and updates were provided online. Before our first race we made a commitment to run in a pack. At the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational, the guys ran well and won the meet, but we did not run together. We re-committed ourselves to doing so and at the Peoria Woodruff Invitational the next weekend we had 6 guys within arms length of one another at the two mile mark (Beattie was in the front pack). From there on out, we ran as a TEAM. We made history by placing 1-7 at the Upstate Eight Conference meet and that momentum carried us through the State series and some illness to the State meet. Loyola (Chicago) was ranked #1 in the nation going into the State meet. The weather was warm and humid and we stuck to our usual race plan of running together. We were over 100 points out of first at the 1.5 mile mark but we continued to pick guys off as we picked up the pace the latter half of the race. It was not until Phil Lockwood (Illinois Valley Striders) told me we had won, almost 30 minutes after the race, did we know the results. Aaron Beattie (4th) and David Wing (20th) were all-state and our fifth man (Billy Klimczak) finished 35th to enable us to win by 12 pts. What an incredible season capped by a 14th place finish at NXN in Portland, OR.
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State Champs – 99 Points |
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| Aaron Beattie | 14:31.0 | 4th | Senior | |
| David Wing | 14:56.0 | 20th | Senior | |
| Carlton Folster | 15:05.0 | 29th | Senior | |
| Luke Verbus | 15:08.0 | 33rd | Senior | |
| Billy Klimczak | 15:10.0 | 35th | Senior | |
| Jaffar Mahmoud | 15:29.0 | 67th | Senior | |
| Josh Antonson | 15:34.0 | 74th | Junior | |
| Front row (L-R): Billy Klimczak, Alex Merkley. Second row: Jaffar Mahmoud, Josh Ferguson, Matt Hill, Jordan Lagomarcino, Josh Antonson, Aaron Beattie. Third row: Coach Javaherian, Coach Janota, Coach Vandersteen, Coach Saul, Coach Rossi. Fourth row: Luke Verbus, Carlton Folster, Andrew Tout, David Wing | ||||
2010
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3rd Place – 180 points |
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| Taylor Soltys | 14:39.0 | 14th | Junior | |
| Mark Derrick | 14:58.0 | 40th | Junior | |
| Josh Ferguson | 14:59.0 | 47th | Senior | |
| Vincenzo Dal Pozzo | 15:04.0 | 53rd | Senior | |
| Josh Antonson | 15:16.0 | 79th | Senior | |
| Hirsh Gaikwad | 15:18.0 | 81st | Senior | |
| Matt Coyne | 15:18.0 | 82nd | Senior | |
| Front row (L-R): Josh Ferguson, Matt Hill, Taylor Soltys, Alekh Meka, Brendan O’Connor, Joel Lynn. Second Row (L-R): Hirsh Gaikwad, Josh Antonson, Mark Derrick, Nick Graham, Adam Maltby, Vincenzo Dal Pozzo, Andrew Tout. 3rd Row (L-R): Coach Brian Wurtz, Coach Arnoush Javaherian, Coach Jaime Janota, Coach Paul Vandersteen, Coach Steve Saul, Coach Mike Rossi, Coach Kyle Brady | ||||
2011
It was another epic Illinois State Meet. The course was a little soft from a lot of rain the prior Thursday and the temperatures were in the mid 60′s with a steady 15mph wind. The course ran about 10 seconds slower than the year before. We ran well, but not well enough to win another State championship. However, we considered ourselves fortunate to be on the trophy stand with a 3rd place finish. It was the 3rd lowest point total (144) in our history. Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys finished 9th and 10th to lead the team and become All-State runners. Our 3-7 men had never run in this meet before but still ran smart races and ran with a lot of determination. If anything, we may have tried too hard and we tightened up a bit. We had to practically carry Alekh to the awards ceremony because he was hurting so bad after the race. This season defnitely had it’s ups and downs. We started the year off by beating #1 Palatine at the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational but followed that with a 3rd place finish at the Peoria Woodruff Invitational (Taylor did not run and Nick Bushelle dropped out of the race). We managed to win all the rest of the races leading up to the State meet.
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3rd Place – 144 Points |
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| Mark Derrick | 14:37 | 9 | Senior | |
| Taylor Soltys | 14:42 | 10 | Senior | |
| Alekh Meka | 15:15 | 49th | Junior | |
| Nick Bushelle | 15:17 | 53rd | Sophomore | |
| Drew Smith | 15:27 | 77th | Senior | |
| Xander Jacobson | 16:00 | 155th | Senior | |
| Alex Stowers | 16:14 | 185th | Junior | |
| L-R, Top Row: Nick Bushelle, Alex Stowers, Mark Derrick, Ben Cederoth. Middle Top: Drew Smith, Kyle Blacker, Shelton Boclair, Steven Krauklis, Xander Jacobson. Middle Bottom: Coach Woolley, Coach Rossi, Coach Vandersteen, Coach Janota, Coach Saul, Coach Ragusa. Bottom: Alekh Meka, Robbie Hohlman, Taylor Soltys, Mike Whaley, Brendan O’Connor | ||||
Paul Vandersteen
Jaime Janota
Steve Saul
Mike Rossi
