Coach Paul Vandersteen coached cross country/track & field and taught science at Neuqua Valley for twenty-six years. Since the inception of the Neuqua Valley men's cross country program in the fall of 1997, it grew consistent numbers in the 130 range and was regarded as one of the top programs in the State. The Wildcats placed in the top four at the IHSA State Meet eleven times, including three State titles. His 2007 team was Nike Team National Champions.

Coach Vandersteen started his coaching career as the head women's track and field coach and assistant cross country coach at Peoria Notre Dame High School and was the assistant women's track and field coach at Pekin Community High School. After moving to the suburbs of Chicago, he coached the hurdlers, sprinters, and distance runners during his tenure at Waubonsie Valley High School before transferring to Neuqua Valley.

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 in Longview, Washington at the age of 14. He competed at Northern Illinois University and The University of Iowa.

Coach Vandersteen is happily married to his wife, Charmaine, and has two children, Samantha and Austin. He is a native wildlife enthusiast and spends his free time biking, running, and gardening.

Paul will be NRCTC's head coach. He will not only be providing his Hall-of-Fame knowledge to the program, he will be writing the workout plans for each training group.

Dan has been running since 2006, and competed both in high school (Mount Carmel) and college (North Central College). He was a vital part of three national championship cross country teams while at NCC. Dan coached middle school athletes for three years while in college, and followed that with five years as a volunteer coach at North Central. He is still actively training and competing, currently focusing on the marathon distance. Dan is the General Manager at Naperville Running Company and loves being an active part of the Naperville running community.

Dan will be assisting Coach Vandersteen with NRCTC, leading up logistics and weekly banter (I mean communication).

Marisa has been competitively running since 2000. Graduating from Neuqua Valley, then Elmhurst College, she went on to run half and full marathons post-collegiately. Marisa is the Director of Culture at Naperville Running Company and has been part of the team since 2012. She competed at the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials after she qualified (with the help of Dan's impeccable pacing) in November of 2019. Marisa is married to Nick Hird (former NCC athlete, current coach and Director of Operations at Naperville Running Company) and they have a four-year old son, Jack (who loves competing just as much as his mom and dad. Watch out, NCC Class of 2040!)

Marisa will be the assistant to the assistant with NRCTC and her main duty will be encouragement, counting laps, ordering shirts, and continuing to chase the fitness.

Kris has been a competitive runner, cyclist and triathlete for over 40 years. With a dream to open his own running store when he was 10, it came to fruition a few years later when he founded Naperville Running Company in 2000. Kris earned his graduate degree in Biomechanics, worked for a few footwear brands, opened a few Naperville Running Company locations, spent several years as a volunteer coach for Coach Vandersteen and currently continues to run, bike, swim and pester his leadership team at NRC.

Kris's main duty for NRCTC will be moral support, product testing, and not blowing out his Achilles.

Gabi currently works for Nike as the Performance Running EKIN, also known as "PRE". She is a proud South Chicagoan, where she was born and raised. Being a "PRE," is the highlight of her career in the running industry. She's been in the industry collectively for over 14 years and loves connecting with communities all across Chicagoland, Michigan, and Indianapolis. She loves supporting NRC and is very excited to be a part of NRCTC. She is most excited about helping support NRC in their mission to help runners unlock their potential and to witness breakthrough moments. "It's those moments of realizing you have more in you than you could've imagined that helps athletes to level up in every area of their lives."

Gabi's running career began in 1995 when she ran her first 5K on the East Side of Chicago. It was the Wolf Run 5K. A month later she ran the Chicago Marathon 5k and saw the Chicago Marathon start corrals as she waited for the 5K to start and she was so moved by the mass of runners that she decided she would be there next year. After running the Chicago Marathon in 1996, she fell in love with the sport and has ran every Chicago Marathon since. She will be training for her 28th consecutive Chicago Marathon this year. In addition to running 27 Chicago Marathons, she has run nine 50 milers, six 70.3 triathlons, one 140.6 triathlon and dozens of other races of various distances.

Gabi represents Nike and will be helping the NRC crew execute NRCTC-behind-the-scenes as well as provide exclusive opportunities for the team to demo new products. We are very grateful for Gabi and Nike's partnership!