Tom Mittman

Tom Mittman has served as Iowa City High’s head women’s cross-country coach for nine years.  He has also coached the distance runners of the women’s track team since 1998 and became the head track and field coach this year.  He was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois and grew up in Iowa City before moving to Eugene, Oregon where he attended and graduated from South Eugene High School in 1975.  His high school was in the same conference as Marshfield High School and its famous alumn Steve Prefontaine.  Tom became a runner in his senior year of high school.  He ran varsity for the State Championship Cross Country team and ran for two years at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa during a stretch when Luther won 11 consecutive Iowa Conference cross country championships.  Most of his experience however, came from road-racing over the next 2 decades.  During that time he went to medical school, graduating from the University of Oregon Health Sciences with an M.D. in 1980.  He returned to Iowa City where he completed a three year family practice residency program.  Tom chose a career in emergency medicine after completing his residency and has continued to reside in Iowa City with his wife Laurie and sons Eric (26), Mike (22), and Scott(15).

In 1989 Tom began a two year science education program at the University of Iowa and earned his teaching and coaching certifications.  When his oldest son became involved in City High cross country Tom offered his services to the team.  Thus, in 1997, he became Coach Mittman with his responsibility being the junior varsity girls.  He inherited the head coaching job two years later.  He prides himself in a program which emphasizes participation at all levels of ability.  His varsity teams have been nationally ranked in 1999, 2002 and 2006. They have won five state championships, finished second three times and last year placed third. These accomplishments have earned him the awards of State Coach of the Year five times and Regional Coach of the Year twice.  He has been Conference Coach of the Year 8 times.  Coach Mittman is proud that he has been able to attract large numbers of girls to participate on his teams and that his junior varsity teams are undefeated against Iowa opponents during his tenure (interestingly but not surprisingly the only blemishes on their records are from Dan Iverson’s Naperville North team*).  Tom continues to work at Mercy Hospital as an emergency room physician on a part-time basis to accommodate his coaching duties.  He runs the workouts with his team although the numbers of runners ahead of him increase every year.

Jessica Strand

Jessica is a PT, DPT, ATC (a.k.a. physical therapist, doctorate of physical therapy, certified athletic trainer).  She specializes in sports medicine and outpatient orthopedics.  She also has a love and deep knowledge of runners and running, as well as aspects of rehabilitation and injury prevention so vital to the sport.  She graduated from the University of Iowa (undergraduate in Athletic Training) and Washington University in St. Louis (doctorate in PT).  She is a former track and field athlete for the Hawkeyes as well.  Her professional experiences have spanned the gamut of high school, collegiate and professional athletes, so she brings tremendous depth of experience to this year's Midwest Distance Summit.

Jim Spivey

Jim Spivey grew up in Wood Dale, Illinois, and attended Bensenville Fenton High School from 1974 to 1978.  Spivey began running competitively in 1975 as a sophomore in cross country and on the track.

He was runner-up at state cross country his junior and senior year, running 14:00 for three miles at the Illinois State course in Peoria, Illinois. In Track and Field he was a state qualifier in the two-mile his sophomore year, was runner-up in the two-mile his junior year in 9:00.5, and state champion in the half mile his senior year. His times as a Senior of 1:50.2 880 yards was the #1 ranked high school time in the country; and his mile time of 4:06.2 was the 2nd fastest.

Jim was a member of the 1984, 1992 and 1996 USA Olympic Teams, placing 5th in the 1500 meter run in Los Angeles in 1984.  He was also a member of five World Championship teams, winning the Bronze Medal in Rome, 1987, for the 1500 meter run  He currently holds the America Record for 2000 meters, set in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1987 (4:52.44), and the 6th fastest time by an American in the mile at 3:49.80.  He also won the Silver Medal in the 1987 Pan American Games 1500 meter run.

Spivey started a local running club in 1990, to help Chicago area runners.  In 1997, he became the head men's and women's head coach at the University of Chicago, coaching 13 all-Americans and 4 NCAA champions.  Leaving Chicago, he was the head women's cross-country and assistant track coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

In 2006, he was brought on board with ASICS America Corporation, maker of athletic shoes and apparel, to implement a program to work with colleges and high schools purchase ASICS product through a retailer of the coach's choice.  The team program started with 5 schools, and currently has over 450.   

Jim has been married to his wife, Cindy, since 1984.  They have three boys:  Sebastian, age 17; Sammy 14, and Simon age 9.  They reside in Wheaton, Illinois.  Jim is a member of the Fenton High School, Indiana University and Drake Relays Halls of Fame.

Paul Vandersteen
Head Coach, Neuqua Valley Boys' Cross Country

Coach Paul Vandersteen is in his 12th year at the helm of the NV cross country program. Since the program's inception eleven years ago, it has grown to 115 men 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,* *with a 9th place finish* *in the fall of 2006*.**  *The 2007 season was a watershed moment for Neuqua Valley Cross Country, as they won the IHSA State Championship and the Nike Team National Championship as well.  Coach Vandersteen also coached Chris Derrick, who won the IHSA State Championship, breaking the all-time course record on the storied Detweiller Park course.  Chris also won the NTN individual title and finished second at the Foot Locker Championships in San Diego.  Coach Vandersteen has created the environment where this sort of development has become possible.

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 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 17 state placers during his coaching career.

Gary Wilson

Gary Wilson has enough stories from his 22 years directing the Golden Gopher women’s cross country program that he could write a lengthy novel. In 2007, or should we say chapter/year number 23, Wilson and his Minnesota charges are building from two of the most successful seasons in school history.

Wilson, the dean of the Big Ten Conference cross country coaches, guided the Gophers to a best-ever ninth-place finish in 2005, then an 11th-place showing in 2006. Interestingly enough, after the 2006 finish in which the Gophers’ number-three runner fell victim to the flu, Wilson looked at it this way, “I guess it says something about what level our program is at when I’m a bit disappointed by finishing 11th in the nation.”

The 2006 Gophers still celebrated two All-Americans in Ladia Albertson-Junkans and Emily Brown, the first two-time honorees in over 20 years for the Minnesota program.

En route to the NCAA Championships, Minnesota placed second at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships and garnered six all-region awards, the most in school history. The Gophers also earned a No. 6 national ranking during the season marking the highest rank in school history.

Overall in Wilson’s 22 years at Minnesota, the fiery, yet humorous coach has guided the Golden Gopher women’s cross country team to NCAA Championships appearances nine times (1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2006). The harriers have been ranked in the top 25 of the national cross country poll in 16 of the past 20 seasons. In eight of the last 10 seasons, including the 2006 campaign when Minnesota placed third, the Gophers have finished fourth or higher at the Big Ten Championships. Overall, Minnesota has finished in the upper half of the conference in 16 of the past 20 seasons.

During the spring, Wilson turns his attention to coaching the distance runners as an assistant coach for the women’s track & field team. After 21 years as the head coach, Wilson stepped into an assistant role in 2007 and helped direct the Gophers to the Big Ten indoor title. The Gopher distance runners also excelled at the Drake Relays, winning all three distance relays (4x800m, 4.x1,600m and the distance medley relay), a feat only accomplished three times in the storied history of the event.

As head coach, he has guided the Golden Gophers to scoring performances at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 14 of his 21 seasons. Minnesota’s highest national finish was a pair of 18th-place finishes in 1990 and 1991. In 2006, Wilson’s final as the head coach, Minnesota finished 19th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and scored a record number of team points (14).

The 2006 track season was one of important firsts for the Golden Gopher program. Minnesota first celebrated its first national champion, when freshman Heather Dorniden won the 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The outdoor season was an impressive display of one success after another. The Gophers rolled to their first Big Ten title with five athletes capturing conference titles along the way. Wilson was honored as the Big Ten Outdoor Coach of the Year. After the Gophers’ 19th-place showing at the NCAA meet and a third-place finish at the Midwest Region Championships, Wilson was further honored by his peers with the Midwest Region and Midwest District Coach of the Year awards.

Perhaps the most fitting way for Wilson to complete the 2005-06 season was by the University of Minnesota honoring him with the President’s Award for Outstanding Service.

The 1989 Minnesota squad was Wilson’s first to earn its way to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, marking the first appearance for the Gophers since 1983. Wilson’s achievements were recognized by his fellow coaches when he was named 1989 Region IV Coach of the Year after guiding the Gophers to a second-place finish at the regional championship. Despite losing three of their top runners from that squad, the 1990 Gophers came within an eyelash of qualifying again for the NCAA meet. In 1991, Wilson led the Gophers back to the national championships, and their 17th-place finish was the team’s highest since 1983, a finish his team duplicated 1999. Another program highlight was five consecutive NCAA Championships appearances from 1997 to 2001.

In a coaching career that spans nearly 40 years, Wilson was honored with one of the most prestigious awards a collegiate track coach can receive when in April of 2005, he was inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame.

Another of Wilson’s shining accomplishments at Minnesota was his part in establishing the annual Roy Griak Invitational, the Gophers’ annual cross country event that has grown into one of the largest single-day cross country meets in the nation. Minnesota won the team title at the prestigious Griak event in 2000.

Not all of Wilson’s accomplishments with cross country and track & field occur on the race course. Wilson served as the president of the Women’s Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association in 1994 and 1995. He served as the Region IV representative on the national committee from 1987-91.

Other accomplishments in his distinguished career include coaching the U.S. junior team that participated at the 1993 World Cross Country Championships in Amorebieta, Spain, and the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Sydney, Australia, in August, 1996.

Wilson was lured to Minnesota after building a Division III powerhouse at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (1977-85), where he coached the women’s team to three consecutive national track and field championships and one national cross country title. UWL finished in the top five at cross country nationals in six of Wilson’s eight years with the program.

Wilson also coached the Wisconsin-LaCrosse men’s track and field team for seven years, guiding both the men’s and women’s teams in 1982 and 1983. In all, his teams at UWL won 21 conference titles. Wilson was inducted in the UWL Hall of Fame in 1997.

Wilson is considered to be one of the foremost authorities in the United States on distance training. Not only has he produced many national-class runners, he is also a teacher of coaches. Wilson served as the national curriculum coordinator for endurance events in the USATF Coaching Education Program from 1984-93. He also teaches a number of schools and clinics at the Olympic Training Center every year and is often sought after to speak at camps and clinics throughout the U.S. and Caribbean.

A native of Lyndonville, N.Y., Wilson competed in cross country and track and field while an undergraduate at Cortland State, N.Y., serving as a captain for all three teams as a senior.

Gary and his wife, Suzy, have three children: Ben, Laura and Adam. The Wilson family resides in Stillwater.