ERIK GUTA: HEAD WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACH

This is Guta's fifth year as head coach for the women's team after six years as an assistant coach for both the men's and women's teams.

Guta was the 2002 NCAA Midwest Regional Coach of the Year after Elmhurst won its third consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) championship and qualified for the NCAA Championships. It was the second time in three seasons that Guta has received the award.

Guta's 2003 cross country team won its fourth straight CCIW title with senior Kathleen Brice placing third in the nation at the NCAA Championships

Guta is a 1992 graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in corporate fitness/exercise physiology. He also holds a master's degree in corporate fitness from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Guta was a member of the track club at NIU throughout his four years there, serving as its president for two. An alumnus of Elmhurst's York High School (Class of 1987), Guta was a member of the Duke's 1986 Class AA state-championship boy's cross country team.

(630) 617-3276
guta@elmhurst.edu

GREG HUFFAKER: HEAD MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACH

Greg Huffaker is in his third year as Elmhurst's head men's cross country coach. He also serves as the head men's track and field coach.

Huffaker, who holds a Level I coaching certification and Level II endurance and jumps certification from USA Track and Field, came to Elmhurst from North Central College, where he had served as an assistant cross country and track and field coach. While there, he coordinated the recruitment of student-athletes with North Central's Office of Admissions and oversaw all aspects of the incoming student-athletes' transition into college. He also served as the assistant director of the North Central summer cross country camp.

Prior to his work at North Central, Huffaker was the head men's cross country coach and assistant men's track and field coach at the University of Dubuque, where he prepared the cross country operating budget and assisted in the administration of the 2000 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

In each of his first two seasons with the Bluejays, Huffaker guided Elmhurst to a third place finish in the CCIW and coached an all-region honoree. Last season, Mark Heintz qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Huffaker earned a bachelor's degree in biology from North Central, where he was a four-year varsity letter-winner in both cross country and track and field, and a member of two national- champion cross country teams (1997, 1998). In 1998, he was the CCIW champion in the steeplechase and served as a captain of the Cardinal cross country team.

(630) 617-3151
gregh@elmhurst.edu