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Men's & Women's Cross Country

 630-617-3151
 akitaj@elmhurst.edu

Jim Akita
Head Men's Coach

Jim Akita is entering his fifth year as the head men's cross country coach at Elmhurst College. Akita also serves as the head coach for the men's track and field team.

Last season, Akita led the Bluejays to a fifth-place finish at the CCIW Championships. Over the past two seasons, three Bluejays, including Pat Austin in 2008, have qualified for the NCAA Championships.

In just three seasons as the head track and field coach for the Bluejay men, Akita's student-athletes have earned five All-America honors.

Prior to joining the Bluejays as head coach, Akita served as a graduate assistant coach at Rockford College. He aslo served as an assistant coach at Elmhurst during the 2002 season.

Akita, who completed his bachelor's degree from Elmhurst in 2004, was a stand-out member of the Elmhurst College cross country and track and field teams.He was a two-time captain of both the cross country and track teams and earned eight all-conference honors between the two sports. He was an NCAA Division III national participant during the 2001 and 2003 outdoor track season. In 2001, he won the College Conference of llinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) 5,000 meters title. An academic all-conference selection in 2000, Akita set five school records in track and field.

A graduate of York High School, Akita still resides in Elmhurst.

 (630) 617-3276
 guta@elmhurst.edu

Erik Guta
Head Women's Coach

Erik Guta enters his 10th year as head coach for the women's cross country team. Before becoming the head women's cross country coach, he spent  six years (1994-1999) as an assistant coach for both the men's and women's squads. He is also the head women's track and field coach at Elmhurst.

Guta's 2008 cross country team finished sixth at the CCIW Championships. Junior Katlyn Bednarski earned all-conference honors by finishing second. 

Guta led the Bluejays to four straight CCIW titles from 2000-2003, earning NCAA Midwest Regional Coach of the Year honors during the 2000 and 2002 season. Guta's teams have produced two top-ten national finishes, and his runners have earned six All-America honors. An Elmhurst runner has captured the CCIW individual title in eight of the past 10 seasons.  

Guta is a 1992 graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in corporate fitness/exercise physiology. He also holds a master's degree in corporate fitness from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Guta was a member of the track club at NIU throughout his four years there, serving as its president for two years. An alumnus of Elmhurst's York High School (Class of 1987), Guta was a member of the Duke's 1986 Class AA state-championship boy's cross country team.