April 18, 2000
Chicago, Ill. - University of Illinois at Chicago Athletic Director James Schmidt announced the addition of men's and women's indoor and outdoor track to its athletic department today. With the addition of the track programs, UIC increases its total number of NCAA Division I programs to 18.
"The addition of track will support our goal of broad based athletics for our students at UIC," Schmidt said. "It will also significantly boost our ability to recruit cross country runners who want to compete and run year round. We are pleased to add these programs to our offerings with the Midwestern Collegiate Conference."
Jim Knoedel, UIC's current men's and women's cross country coach, will head up the new programs, which will begin its first season of competition next winter. Under Knoedel, who has coached track previously at Iowa State, Drake, Loyola and Simpson College, the Flames have had 10 men's and women's student-athletes earn All-MCC Indoor and Outdoor Track honors in the last three years as club athletes.
"I think that a track team at UIC has the capability of making an impact pretty quickly," Knoedel said. "There is a tremendous talent pool in the Chicago area and I feel we'll be able to attract some of the top runners in the area and be able to challenge the better teams in the MCC rather quickly."
The Flames, whose men's and women's cross country members have competed on UIC's club track team at various meets throughout the Midwest in the past, will continue to participate in regional competitions. UIC also joins five other Midwestern Collegiate Conference (MCC) schools - Butler, Detroit, Loyola, UW-Milwaukee and Wright State - which sponsor track. The Flames will also be able to challenge for more points in the MCC's McCafferty Trophy scoring, which is the league's all-sports award.
UIC, which initiated a track program in 1948 under former coach and Athletic Director Sheldon Fordham, maintained the team until the mid-80's. During its existence, the track and field program enjoyed a great deal of success, capturing numerous Chicagoland Independent Track and Field Championships while boasting 22 All-Americans.
