NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Eleven individuals representing eight sports and five institutions will begin their tenures as head coaches in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) when competition begins this winter.



Men’s Basketball
Anthony Figueroa was named the 19th men’s basketball head coach at North Central on May 9. Previously at Parkland, Figueroa's team finished 23-8 last season, winning an NJCAA Central District Championship and advanced to the NJCAA Division II national tournament. In his 10 seasons as head coach, the Cobras went 221-79 and made two appearances in the NJCAA Elite Eight. Also the assistant athletic director throughout his tenure at Parkland, Figueroa served as an assistant coach for CCIW rival Millikin University from 2008 to 2011 and for Lackawanna College (Pennsylvania) from 2004 to 2008.
 
At North Park, Sean Smith was appointed men’s basketball head coach on April 14. Smith spent three seasons as an assistant coach with Wisconsin Lutheran College, including the past two seasons as associate head coach. While coaching and recruiting for the Warriors, he helped lead the men's basketball team to the most conference wins in school history, back-to-back league championships, including the first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference championship in 10 years, and the first NACC tournament championship.
 
Women’s Basketball
After five years as an assistant coach, Annie Radenkovich was promoted to head coach at North Park on April 7. Radenkovich's coaching roots at North Park began before the 2017-18 season, where she was hired as a graduate assistant coach. That following season, Radenkovich was promoted to full-time assistant coach. Since then, Radenkovich has assisted in guiding the Vikings to four CCIW tournament appearances and a 17-win season during 2019-20 play. As a student-athlete at North Park, Radenkovich was a four-year letter winner, two-year captain, and was nominated for the Female Sportsman of Year honor as a senior.
 
Women’s Bowling
Elmhurst named Torrie Bartalone the head coach of the Bluejays' women's bowling team on July 20. A former All-American bowler at Valparaiso University, Bartalone spent the past two seasons directing the men's and women's bowling teams at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.  Last season, she led the Railsplitter squads to the inaugural Conference Carolinas/Great Midwest Men's and Women's Bowling Championship. She earned Coach of the Year honors for both the men's and women's team while also coaching the conference's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year for both squads.
 
Mike Stubler will be in his first year as Lakeland’s women’s bowling head coach. He has coached for the past seven years in the Bowling Centers Association of Wisconsin’s middle and high school bowling program, acquiring four state titles along the way. He coached the Division 1 high school boys championship team last year including bowlers from Sheboygan North, Oostburg, Sheboygan Lutheran and Random Lake high schools, posting 15 games with an average of over 232 pins per game, including a perfect 300 game, and came within 11 pins of the state record.
 
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Nora Schroedter, a North Central graduate and former member of the Cardinal women's swimming & diving program, was named NCC head coach on April 27. She has more than 35 years of experience as a swimming coach and coached both collegiately at the College of DuPage and at the high school level with Benet Academy and Neuqua Valley. In 1994, Schroedter was a founding coach of the Maverick Swim Club in Naperville and served as Team Illinois' Coach and Illinois' Swimming Development Camp Coach. Part of her role there was to counsel high school student-athletes on a college athletic path.
 
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Averi Lewis was named head coach of the North Central women’s swimming & diving team on April 28. Lewis comes to North Central with nearly 10 years of coaching and leadership experience. In her most recent roles, she was the head age group & masters swim coach at the Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club as well as a triathlon coach with Matt Hanson Racing. While having earned her bachelor's degrees in both psychology and exercise science at the University of Alabama, Lewis was also a member and vice president of the club triathlon team for the Crimson Tide. In addition to her swimming & diving responsibilities, Lewis will direct the Cardinals’ triathlon program.
 
Men’s Indoor Track & Field
An 18-year coaching veteran, Gabriel Rivera was appointed head coach of the North Central men's track and field program on June 30. The head men's coach at nearby Benedictine University the past two seasons, Rivera brings a wide variety of experience and technical acumen to the new role. Rivera coached the Eagles to a 17th-place showing at the 2022 NCAA Division III Indoor Championship and an 11th-place finish at the Division III Outdoor Championship. Rivera's first head coaching stint came at Long Beach City College (California) from 2017 to 2020.
 
Men’s Wrestling
Former North Central assistant Zach Cook was promoted to head coach of the NCC men’s wrestling team on May 26. Since Cook joined the Cardinal staff in 2019, both men’s and women’s programs have a combined 33-8 dual meet record while the men's team has won 22 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) consecutive dual meets during that time, claiming the CCIW Dual Meet Championship this season. Cook has also coached 16 men's All-Americans and three National Champions in his three seasons at North Central while helping the program claim their first NCAA Trophy at the 2022 National Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
 
Veteran wrestling coach Mike DeRoehn, a familiar face on the NCAA Division III wrestling scene, is returning to Lakeland as head men's wrestling coach. DeRoehn brings a wealth of experience, highlighted by successful head coach roles at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh in addition to Lakeland. DeRoehn's first tenure at Lakeland saw him serve as assistant athletic director, head men's wrestling coach and strength & conditioning coach from the fall of 2010 through the 2013-14 school year. He led the wrestling team to the Northern Wrestling Conference Championship in 2011 & 2012, trained the sixth and seventh NCAA qualifiers in school history and Scholar All Americans in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Women’s Wrestling
Jake Calhoun was named Carthage women’s wrestling coach on June 22. After spending one year as a graduate assistant for the men's and women's wrestling programs at Carthage, Calhoun brings 12 years of NCAA Division III coaching experience, as well as experience competing at the collegiate, national, and international levels. Before joining the Firebirds coaching staff, Calhoun coached at Lakeland University as their men's and women's Head Wrestling Coach. Calhoun also coached for three years as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and coached five All-Americans, including a two-time NCAA National Champion, during his tenure at his alma mater.

Follow the CCIW

| CCIW Twitter | CCIW Instagram | CCIW Facebook |