Skip Stolley Named New Track and Field Coach

Stolley Named New Track and Field Coach
CHICAGO, IL (September 14, 2009) – The North Park athletic department introduced Skip Stolley as its new head track and field coach this week.

Stolley, who has served as the vice president of the Southern California USATF since 2004, succeeds coach Aaron Decker.

“We are delighted to announce the hiring of the legendary Skip Stolley as our new head track and field coach,” North Park Athletic Director Dr. Jack Surridge said. “He has built powerful programs at every level from high school to the United States Men’s Junior National Team that competed in the Pan American Games this past summer. Our commitments to excellence seem to have coalesced at the same time and place. We are honored to welcome him to the North Park University coaching staff.”

Stolley comes to North Park with a rich track and field background. In addition to serving as the vice president at the Southern California USATF, he served as the head track and field coach at Indiana State University for four years. From there, he became the Executive Director of the Los Angeles-based Puma Energizer Track Club, which produced 14 members of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team. He is also the founder of Track West, a USATF club dedicated to developing promising post-collegiate distance runners, which has produced 34 athletes who competed in the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Trials, and more than 60 qualifiers for the USA Championships.

“I am extremely pleased to have the opportunity to join the North Park University family and return to my Midwest coaching roots. I am also excited about coaching at a Christian school and continuing my own journey of faith,” Stolley said. “We have a huge challenge ahead of us to try to become competitive in the CCIW —one of the top NCAA Division-III Conferences in America—and I relish that challenge. We have a great university, excellent facilities and the ability to draw from a talent pool of track and field athletes from high schools in northern Illinois and Indiana and southern Wisconsin that is rivaled only by southern California and central Texas. I can't wait to grab an oar on the North Park Vikings’ ship.”

A native of Illinois, Stolley was just recently inducted in to the Mt. SAC Coaches Hall of Fame. He joined a short list of coaches who have made a tremendous impact on the sport and the Mt. SAC Relays.

North Park returns CCIW conference champion and national qualifier Lars Tenglin in the javelin.

Courtesy North Park University