ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Township High School cross country program will have a new head coach when the Hub and Lady Hub runners lace up their shoes for the 2024 season.

Dale Bergeson has been named the next head coach of the cross country team. Bergeson has been an assistant cross country coach for the last five seasons and currently serves as the head coach of the boys track and field team. Bergeson’s hiring was approved during the Rochelle Township High School Board of Education meeting held on Monday, March 18. 

“Since I was in high school, I never thought that I would be the head cross country coach,” Bergeson said. “It’s an honor knowing who the coaches who came before me were. I want to make the program even better and try to build off of what coach [John] Dobbs and coach [Mark] Zilis did. I’m excited to see the young runners we’ll have coming back and I think we’ll have our best shot over the last 15 years to get a team down to the state meet. I’m excited for that.”

In addition to cross country, Bergeson has coached track and field at RTHS for 12 years including four years as head coach of the boys team. As an RTHS student-athlete, Bergeson helped the boys cross country team complete an undefeated season during his senior year, when the Hubs won an IHSA Regional title and qualified for the IHSA State Championships.

Bergeson replaces former head cross country coach Mark Zilis, who has spent 21 years with the cross country program including five years as a head coach. Zilis, whose resignation was approved during the RTHS board meeting, has coached sports at RTHS for the last 26 years, spending 22 years with the track and field program and four with the boys soccer program.

“Coach Zilis was always consistent with how he laid out his practice plans and what I learned from him was that every kid matters,” Bergeson said. “I think we’re going to focus more on speed training as far as distance with purpose is concerned. We want to build quickness in our 3-mile times and I’m looking forward to putting our plans together and going from there.”

Zilis said he and his wife Katie, who coaches both cross country and track at Rochelle Middle School, intend on moving to Champaign and spending time with their three grandchildren. Katie is retiring from both coaching and teaching at RMS.

“I enjoyed seeing athletes of all abilities improve over the years,” Zilis said. “I've been training for the last 55 years and it started with my cross country and track coaches encouraging me in high school. Dale has been my assistant coach for the last five years in cross country and has seen what can be accomplished with hard work. He is incredibly organized and inspirational. He also was a member of the last RTHS cross country team to make it to the state meet (in 2000).”