Andy Derks- Plainfield North HS, Illinois 

Derks has been coaching at Plainfield North High School since 2011, and has been Head Boys XC Coach since 2014. In cross country, his boys team have qualified for state 5 times, including a 4th place team finish in 2022 and 2nd place last year in 2023 for 3A in Illinois (the largest division). The boys went on to place 2nd in the NXR Midwest meet and placed 15th at NXN with a lineup that included 4 sophomores.  Derks' girls team placed 17th at state in 2023, the best finish in school history, and finished as an "All-Region" team at NXR Midwest.  Individually, his boys have had a runner place in the top 5 at the state XC meet each of the last two years. In track, his boys 4x8 placed 3rd in the state meet running 7:41, lowering the school record by 12-seconds. The girls team also finished All-State, placing 8th and running 9:17, which was 20-sec faster than previous year's school record.  Derks is fortunate to get to coach with amazing assistant coaches in XC (Sam Barranco, Roxanne Hall, and Emilie Hatzl), and work with an amazing Head Track Coach in the spring (Tony Holler).