Greg Huffaker

Greg Huffaker became the head cross country coach for men and women and assistant track coach at Illinois Wesleyan University in April 2005. In his first season he coached Melinda Sprague to NCAA Division III All-America status in as she finished 33rd as the first IWU woman ever to qualify for the national meet.

No stranger to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, Huffaker is a 1999 graduate of North Central and came to IWU from Elmhurst, where he was head men's cross country coach and head men's track and field coach from 2002 to 2005.

At Elmhurst Huffaker guided the men's cross country team to a second place finish in the 2004 CCIW meet and to third place finishes in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 Elmhurst finished sixth in the Midwest Regional meet, the school's best finish ever, and Mark Heintz became the school's first cross country All-American with his 19th place finish in the NCAA Division III championships.

Prior to coaching at Elmhurst, Huffaker was a cross country and track assistant coach at North Central. He also coordinated student-athlete recruitment with the office of admissions and oversaw all aspects of the incoming student-athletes' transition into college. He was also assistant director of the North Central summer cross country camp.

In 2000, 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 NCAA Division III outdoor championships.

Huffaker, who has a Level I coaching and Level II endurance and jumps certifications from USA Track and Field, earned a bachelor's degree in biology from North Central, where he was a four-year varsity letterman in both cross country and track and a member of national champion cross country teams in 1997 and 1998. In 1998, he was the CCIW champion in the steeplechase and served as a captain of the Cardinal cross country team.

Huffaker and his wife, Beth, are the parents of one son (Luke).