FightingIllini.com
The Official Home of University of Illinois Athletics
- Men's Sports
- MEN'S SPORTS
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Cheerleading
- Football
- Golf
- WOMEN'S SPORTS
- Basketball
- Cheerleading
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Soccer
|
04/29/2013
Paul, Weinstein Receive Top Honor at Scholar-Athlete Reception
Basketball, Gymnastics Standouts Take Home Prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor
04/19/2013
Many PR's Set at Mt. SAC Relays
Mickow cracks into top-10 in 10K school history
03/01/2013
Distance Medley Relay Set School Record
Illini relay breaks 18-year old DMR record; qualify for NCAA's
02/09/2013
Illini Find Success at Spire/Husky
20 Illini athletes set personal bests over the weekend
02/02/2013
Morris Resets School Record at Meyo Invite
Junior finishes second in the famous 'Meyo Mile'
Follow Coach Stewart at @IlliniXC
Jake Stewart finished his first season as head men's cross country coach and saw a very successful season filled with numerous athletes posting top times in the school record books. Stewart also guided the Illini to a fourth place finish at the Big Ten Championships, which was the best performance in 16 years. For the second consecutive year, the squad sent two runners to the NCAA Championships as senior's Hunter Mickow and Jannis Topfer ran in the national meet for the first time in their career.
During his time at Purdue, he had success on the cross country course and on the track. In the fall, he led the men's cross country team to its best finish since the 2008 season. Stewart also had two athletes qualify for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round of Championship (800, 5,000m) while also coaching an athlete who's performance placed them into the top five all-time in the school record books. In addition, Stewart had a USATF Junior All-American and recruited the first Foot Locker All-American recruit in school history.
Before coaching at Purdue, Stewart spent three years at Lamar University where he was the assistant track coach and cross country coach. At Lamar, he was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year in 2009 and in 2010 after the men won four of their five invitationals including a top finish at the 12-team conference championships. The men were also back-to-back cross country conference champions in 2009 and 2010. Individually, he coached 17 Southland Conference champions, helped the Cardinals set 10 new school records and coached 53 conference point scorers in both indoor and outdoor track.
Prior to his tenure at Lamar, Stewart was the assistant coach for the Iona College men's and women's cross country and track and field teams for three seasons. In his time with the Gaels, the men's cross country team finished third in 2006 and runner-up in 2007 and 2008, the highest finish of any program in school history. The men's team was also honored for its scholastic achievements as it was named the NCAA Division I All-Academic Team of the Year in 2006 and 2007. In addition, he coached the first women's cross country team to qualify for the 2006 national championships.
During his time as an undergrad at Iona, Stewart helped the Gaels win four MAAC championships and finish in the top 10 each year. In addition, he was the captain of the squad in 2005, becoming the first walk-on in program history to achieve the feat.
Stewart earned his Masters degree in Sports Administration from Concordia University, Irvine California this summer and his Bachelor of Science in English from Iona College in 2005. He resides in Champaign and is married to his wife, Brandi.
