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CC teams earn USTFCCCA Academic honors |
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CC Teams finish 2008 season at NCAA Midwest Regional |
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CC teams both finish 7th at CCIW Championships |
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Cross Country teams both finish 29th at Oshkosh |
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Cross Country teams compete at Benedictine Invite |
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CC Teams compete at Roy Griak Invite |
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CC teams compete at UW-Parkside Open |
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Cross Country teams compete at own Invite |
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CC teams finish strong at Elmhurst Earlybird |
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2008 NP Cross Country Preview |
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Happy New Year! 2009 is already shaping up to be a strong year for North Park Cross Country. In December we received word that we would receive a Graduate Assistant for Track & Field/Cross Country. It was just another show of commitment to our program. With the support of the university I am confident that we can continue to reach new heights as a team.
Our candidate pool for the Graduate Position was quite deep and we spent our December reading resumes and interviewing candidates for the position.
I am pleased to announce that Sam Romanoski will be a part of our staff. Sam has had an accomplished running career at the prep and collegiate level.
At Lake Zurich High School in Illinois, Romanoski was a 3-time Fox Valley Conference Champion, 2-time IHSA Regional and Sectional Champion, All-State runner 3 times, and a FOOTLOCKER ALL-AMERICAN in Cross Country. In Track and Field Romanoski was a 2-time IHSA State Qualifier in the 3200 and 1600, earning All-State honors.
While competing at Loyola University Chicago, Romanoski lead Loyola to their first NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championship appearance. Individually, Sam Romanoski was a 4 year Varsity member and a 2-time NCAA Division I Midwest All-Regional selection. In Track & Field Sam earned numerous All-Conference honors in the Horizon League as well as an NCAA Division I Provisional Mark at 10,000 meters.
Needless to say, we are thrilled to have Sam on board!
Happy New Year! 2009 is already shaping up to be a strong year for North Park Cross Country. In December we received word that we would receive a Graduate Assistant for Track & Field/Cross Country. It was just another show of commitment to our program. With the support of the university I am confident that we can continue to reach new heights as a team.
Our candidate pool for the Graduate Position was quite deep and we spent our December reading resumes and interviewing candidates for the position.
I am pleased to announce that Sam Romanoski will be a part of our staff. Sam has had an accomplished running career at the prep and collegiate level.
At Lake Zurich High School in Illinois, Romanoski was a 3-time Fox Valley Conference Champion, 2-time IHSA Regional and Sectional Champion, All-State runner 3 times, and a FOOTLOCKER ALL-AMERICAN in Cross Country. In Track and Field Romanoski was a 2-time IHSA State Qualifier in the 3200 and 1600, earning All-State honors.
While competing at Loyola University Chicago, Romanoski lead Loyola to their first NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championship appearance. Individually, Sam Romanoski was a 4 year Varsity member and a 2-time NCAA Division I Midwest All-Regional selection. In Track & Field Sam earned numerous All-Conference honors in the Horizon League as well as an NCAA Division I Provisional Mark at 10,000 meters.
Needless to say, we are thrilled to have Sam on board!
It is an exciting time to be a North Park Viking! We continue to take steps towards improving. Last Friday we competed in our 1st indoor track & field meet of the season and many people were able to achieve PRs. It's definitely a sign of good things to come! Also, we received word that the Track & Field and/or Cross Country program is going to be hiring a Graduate Assistant. We have just begun the search but look forward to announcing the addition to our staff soon.
This is the time of the year where we often tend to reflect on our lives. With Thanksgiving on Thursday I can honestly say that I am thankful for...being able to be a part of the sport I love so much, being able to interact on a regular basis with our student-athletes and watch them live, learn and grow.
Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to take advantage of your local Turkey Trot!
Happy running,
Tracey
Commitment...
From Saturday, September 13th to Sunday, September 14th North Park University as well as the surrounding community of Albany Park dealt with the sudden rise of the North Branch of the Chicago River because of almost seven inches of rain in a 24-hour period.
Many of our students were evacuated from their dorms, including our entire freshman class and many roads surrounding campus were closed.
We start our practice week on Sundays with our long run at 7:00 am. With the rain and flooding it would have been very easy for each person on our team to make excuses to not come to practice. At 7:00 am on Sunday the team practiced, rain, flooding, no dorm rooms, roads closed and all. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to reach our goals in 2008!
It has been such a long time since my last entry and many exciting events have happened. We hosted the CCIW Championships in Track & Field and runner Laura Papageorgiou earned All-CCIW honors in the 10,000 meters. We experienced a typical CHICAGO summer, and we have welcomed in a strong freshman class for 2008.
We spent much of August logging miles and building team relationships. This past weekend we raced in our first CC meet of 2008. All and all performances were solid and there is a high ceiling for improvement. The future looks strong for North Park CC.Everyone has been training hard and is committed to establishing our team at the local, conference, regional and national level. On Saturday we will host our annual CC meet at our new home course location, Montrose Avenue Beach--right on the Lakefront. The Women's 5k starts at 10 am and the Men's 8k begins at 11 am.
It is my goal to update my entries weekly with a different focus each week. Be sure to check back next week to find out more...
Greetings! The team is currently preparing for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 1st. We had our last hard workout of the indoor season earlier this week, 200's. Everyone was to do 200's at their goal pace with extremely short recovery. It was my hope going into the workout that each runner would run around 25 200's. The team far surpassed my expectations. Almost every runner was cut off at 50 200's at or even faster than goal pace! The workout was one of the best collective workouts that I have seen our runners run in my 3 years here! Everyone is ready for BIG improvements next weekend!
The sky is the limit for our program in the coming years. Our current teams are young and there are high-quality runners interested in helping us establish a new tradition. BE A NORTH PARK VIKING!
At this time of the year I encourage you to start the application process. Also, with spring break coming sooner rather than later be sure to schedule a visit to see
Happy running,
Tracey Murnane McGarry
Men's & Women's Cross Country/Distance Coach
Greetings from North Park CC! It's been a while since my last entry. Things are going well here, despite the harsh weather. I heard on the news today that this winter will go down in history as one of the top 5 worst winters in Chicago. Everyday we are grateful that we can train in the Helwig Recreation Center.
There is something special though about training in the elements. You are able to prepare yourself mentally and physically to handle any situation. I think that the 2006 NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championships proved that you have to be prepared to race in any conditions (the entire course was under water, making for an extremely muddy race).
Warm wishes to all this Holiday Season! A special thanks those of you who were a part of the 24-Hour Treadmill Relay! Because of YOU, we were able to raise over $600 to help purchase gifts for 30 children that otherwise would not have received a present for Christmas.
On December 7th we closed the book on the 2007 Cross Country season with our team awards night. This year we decided to celebrate our successes with a night of ice skating in Grant Park and Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Although she was only able to run in 4 races, Sophomore Hannah Landecker was named our team Most Valuable Runner. Junior Laura Papageorgiou received Most Improved Runner honors (this is the 2nd year in a row that Laura has received this award-28:18 freshman year 6,000 meters, 26:15 sophomore year 6k, 24:42 junior year 6k). Sophomore Jacque Fisher received the Coach's Award for her continued efforts and commitment to her teammates.
We have a great group of girls here. Although it didn't show in our results, we are a far better team than we have been in years past and we look forward to our chance for redemption in 2008.
Be a Lady Viking! You WILL be a part of something special!
Donate and support the North Park Cross Country teams as the run to help make the holidays more special for children throughout the Chicagoland area. Starting at 6 pm on Dec. 5th until 6 pm on December 6th at the Helwig Recreation Center, members of the Cross Country teams will run for 24 hours to help raise money to purchase gifts for under-resourced children as a part of the Great Gift Giveaway. Help us donate! $24 for 24 hours will get you some NPU Cross Country accessories and a chance to win our raffle. Lesser donations are also appreciated and will be accepted. If you want to donate, make checks payable to North Park Univresity and send your donation to:
Tracey McGarry
Cross Country Coach
North Park University
3225 W Foster Avenue
Box 56
Chicago, IL 60625
The 2007 season season started with great expectation with the return of our entire top 6 runners from last season. At the beginning of the season everyone was fit and racing well but we got bit by the random injury bug and were not able to sustain the losses of having 3 of our top runners out at the same time.
The girls are extremely motivated and cannot wait for 2008! We need more girls to become Lady Vikings though. Be a part of our team and help us reach our goals!
We are getting closer to the CCIW (College Conference of Wisconsin) Championships with everyday. The team has been training extemely hard and I am confident that they will be rewarded for their dedication to eachother and themselves with personal and team achievements!
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