Mr. Kenneth Jakalski (Coach/Teacher)
Ken began his coaching career in the mid 70’s at Aurora Central Catholic. In the fall of 1986, he came to Lisle High School, where he taught English and coached cross country and track and field. He served as the high school and junior high athletic director for nine years before returning to the classroom to teach literature and language arts both at the junior high and high school. In cross country, he has coached two all-state boys (Chris Jones and Justin Weiss) and two all-state girls, Colleen Detjens and Faye Kouimelis. Jones, Weiss, and Detjens were three-time all-staters. In 2003 he advanced a complete boys team to the state meet, and in 2006 did the same for the girls--the first time in Lisle history either boys or girls advanced as a team to the state meet.

Ken coached four top four state relay teams and one state championship relay team, and seventeen all-state runners. He’s presented seminars on speed training to coaches’ associations across the country, and has served as a member of the IHSA Track and Field Advisory Committee as well as Meet Manager for the 1998 USATF National Cross Country Championships. He was a 2007 National High School Coaches Association Finalist for Coach of the Year, and in 2015 he was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.