Jim Spivey, former American middle distance runner and three-time Olympian, will join forces with Wheaton Academy's own
Chris Felinski, 13-year veteran cross country assistant coach and 2000 graduate, to
co-lead the school's cross country team.
Spivey competed in the 1984, 1992 and 1996 Olympics and has held head coaching positions at the University of Chicago and Vanderbilt University.
He also is no stranger to the high school cross country experience, where he began his running career as a sophomore at Fenton High School in Bensenville, IL. After coach John Kurtz saw Jim run a 6:48 mile in gym class, he invited him to join the team. Four days later in his first race Spivey ran 19:05 for three miles at the Warrenville Invitational and two months later improved his time with a 15:41 three-mile third place finish at a varsity conference meet. He went on to earn second place finishes in both his junior and senior years at the Illinois State Cross Country Championships with a 14:00 for three miles in his last year. Also in his senior year, he was the 880 yards state champion and his time of 1:50.2 was the number one ranked high school time in the country.
Jim attended Indiana University and while there was coached by USATF Hall of Famer Sam Bell. Spivey won 13 Big Ten Titles, was named All-American 13 times and was the first Big Ten Athlete of the year in 1981-82.
After college, Spivey continued to train with Mike Durkin, two-time USA Olympian in the 1500 meters, and Ken Popejoy, ranked 9
th in the world. In 1987, Jim won a bronze medal for the 1500 meters at the World Championships in Rome. In that same year he earned a silver medal in the 1500 meter run at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, and set the American record for 2000 meters in Lausanne, Switzerland, that still stands. In 1984, he won the Olympic trials for the 1500 meters and finished fifth in the Los Angeles Olympic Games with a time of 3:36.06. In 1992, he won the Olympic trials in New Orleans and finished eighth at the Barcelona Games. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Spivey was a semi-finalist in the 5000 meters with a time of 14:27.72.
Spivey currently resides in Wheaton, IL, with his wife, Cindy, and their three sons, Sebastian, Sammy and Simon. He is employed by ASICS America in college team sales. Jim also is a motivational speaker and coach of the
Jim Spivey Running Club.
Felinski, also a long-time running enthusiast, has been the assistant cross country coach at Wheaton Academy for the past 13 years. During that time he has trained varsity boys who have qualified for state final races four times with a school best finish of 16
th place in 2007. He also coached five individual state qualifiers and over 30 all-conference runners.
In Felinski's new role as co-coach with Spivey, he will continue to train and coach athletes, but will take on the critical day-to-day responsibilities, as well as serve as meet manager for all home cross country and track meets.
Beyond training and coaching, the 2000 Wheaton Academy graduate fills other key roles at the school. Chris serves as science department head, math and computer teacher, and assistant information systems director. His interaction with student-athletes in the classroom, around the school and on the course and track will add to his role of liaison.
Chris resides in Wayne, IL, and when he isn't coaching he enjoys running competitively in 10k and marathon races. During the summer he also works with Victory Sports Camps with their week-long track camps.
“We are excited about our kids having the best of both worlds; an on-campus coach fully capable of assuming head coaching responsibilities, working under the leadership of an experienced college coach and Olympian,” said Head of School Gene Frost.
