ELMHURST, Ill. –Jordan Bartolazzi has been named the head coach of the Elmhurst College women's cross country and track and field programs.

A 2015 graduate of Elmhurst College, Bartolazzi competed on both the men's cross country and track and field squads in his time as a Bluejay. Most recently, he has served as senior admission counselor at Elmhurst, where he helped oversee the College's recruiting efforts of all student-athletes.

"Jordan has a wealth of positive energy and enthusiasm which is very contagious," said Elmhurst Director of Athletics Paul Krohn. "He has demonstrated a level of professionalism in his current role on campus and has proven to be instrumental in successfully achieving great results in recruiting athletic participants to Elmhurst College in a myriad of sports. Clearly that expectation of him will exist to bolster rosters in the running programs with this proven track record. He is a tireless worker and I would expect his work efforts and his genuine ambition to grow the running programs at Elmhurst College to quickly translate to successes.  Jordan truly cares deeply about Elmhurst College and his level of commitment to provide quality efforts to his work have been clearly visible."   

Bartolazzi is equally excited to begin a new chapter in his career as the Bluejays' head coach. "As a former Elmhurst runner myself, I'm thrilled to lead this program into a new era," he said. "Elmhurst College is a fantastic institution in a great location that really cares about student success. There is no reason that our women's program cannot compete year after year with the top teams in the nation. It's a challenge that I am eager to accept and cannot wait to get started."

Bartolazzi inherits a cross country squad that has placed seventh at the CCIW Championships the last two seasons and a track team that placed ninth at both the indoor and outdoor CCIW Championships of 2017.

"I'm honestly excited about all that's on the horizon," Bartolazzi said about the challenges he expects to face. "We're shooting for some quick wins in recruiting and I feel so fortunate to be inheriting a group of women that are talented and committed to the program. My biggest immediate goal is to build on our team culture. Cross country runners pride themselves on being a close-knit bunch and I plan to do all I can to foster a strong sense of community amongst our team. The ladies I've spoken to so far give me full confidence that we're already on the right track. We're going to work very hard next year, but we're going to have a lot of fun too!"

Long term, Bartolazzi believes he can help build the Bluejays into one of the top squads in the CCIW. "I fully believe Elmhurst College has the potential to compete at the top of the CCIW year in and year out," he said. "We're going to recruit well and then commit to training our athletes at a very high level. My greatest goal is to instill a deep sense of pride and commitment to our College and our program in each member of our team that lasts far beyond their four years on campus."

Bartolazzi will begin his coaching duties at Elmhurst on July 1.