Harper’s Jim Macnider continues to add to his legacy
On a snowy course that made for slippery footing earlier this month in Fort Dodge, Iowa, the men’s cross country team of Harper College in Palatine won the NJCAA Division III title.
Harper freshmen Sebastian Welc (Schaumburg High School) and Ryan Golden (Grant) placed fourth and fifth individually, earning first-team All-American honors.
Freshman Ethan Waddell (Cary-Grove) and sophomore Jerome Graessle (Barrington) finished 14th and 16th, respectively.
The Hawks’ fifth scorer, sophomore Michael Johnson (Grant), surged from 51st to 21st to clinch the team title ahead of College of DuPage and seventh-place finisher Adriano Quintero (Willowbrook).
The big news out of COD was the first NJCAA Division III cross country title by the Chaparral women, who topped Mineral Area College (Mo.) and Joliet Junior College.
First-team All-American, COD freshman Jessica Balmer (West Chicago), the Central Region athlete of the year, took third individually.
Fellow freshmen Elena Kosorog (Glenbard East) and Maureen Bluemle (Neuqua Valley) also earned All-America honors in 12th- and 15th-place, respectively.
Sophomores Ali Pasdiora (Antioch) and Sam Blankenship (Lake Park) rounded out the scoring for the Chaparrals, who won the 20th national title for College of DuPage women’s programs.
Harper College coach Jim Macnider has five women’s cross country titles to his credit. This year, on that snowy Iowa golf course, Macnider had to be content with winning his 10th men’s title in 15 years since taking over Harper cross country in 2011.
“I basically told them, don’t let the weather beat you,” Macnider said. “Just run your race and don’t worry about how fast you run.”
He said he preaches running negative splits, his athletes running a little faster kilometer by kilometer. Johnson illustrated that by moving up against the field.
“This team, to a guy, ran that way all season and it paid off at the national meet,” said Macnider, who a couple weeks prior had been inducted into the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame along with former 32-year Oakton College coach Patrick Savage. Both graduated from Niles West High School.
Macnider excelled at Harper himself, winning two Skyway Conference cross country titles and two regional distance titles in track and field.
After his school days at Harper, Macnider ran at North Central College where, as for a thousand others, the late Al Carius became a mentor.
Immediately upon graduation Macnider interviewed for a job with Township High School District 211, and started at Schaumburg. After a year as a boys cross country assistant Macnider became head coach.
From 1974-2011 his teams qualified for the state meet 24 times and won six trophies with Class AA first-place finishes in 1985, 1987 and 1988. He also coached Saxons boys track for more than two decades.
(Meanwhile, brother Jon Macnider enjoyed similar success with Schaumburg girls cross country, winning three titles and second twice between 1981-2010.)
Jim Macnider, who earlier this year received the NJCAA Legacy Award and also is in the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame, said more than anything he did as a runner, he enjoys seeing improvement by the athletes he coaches.
“The bottom line is being passionate about the sport and caring about the kids, beyond cross country,” he said. “Cross country and distance running in general are good character builders. You’ve got to have a lot of dedication in order to succeed, and those that do generally succeed in life.”
Turning 75 in January, he has no plans to stop coaching. He’s in his office at Harper College every weekday, and if the Hawks men or women qualify for next year’s national meet in Huntsville, Ala., he’ll be there.
Close friends with Carius, Macnider spoke with his old coach just days before Carius died Sept. 9.
“One of the last things he said to me was don’t ever stop coaching. He said, ‘If you like it, keep doing it,’” Macnider said.
“As long as I have my health and I enjoy it, I’m going to.”