Cross Country | 12/22/2014 9:34:00 AM

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Methodist University Vice President and Director of Athletics has announced the hiring of Jack Brunecz as the University's first full-time Head Cross Country Coach.
 
Brunecz comes to Methodist after serving as the Head Cross Country and Track & Field coach at Pine Forest High School since 2010. He will begin his duties at MU on January 15. Roland Whiting, who has served as MU's Head Cross Country and Track & Field coach since 2012, will remain as the school's head track & field coach.
 
"We are pleased that Coach Brunecz will be joining our staff next month," said McEvoy. "He will bring a wealth of knowledge as a distance coach for our current student-athletes, as well as a broad network of contacts and relationships at the high school level that will be most helpful with recruiting and building up our roster sizes in the years ahead. His uncommon passion for his sport and proven track record as an excellent teacher will be a perfect fit for our Monarch Nation."
 
"First and foremost I would like to think Mr. McEvoy, President Hancock, the search committee, and everybody involved at Methodist who had the faith and belief in me that I was the best candidate for the position of Head Cross Country Coach at Methodist University," said Brunecz. "I aim to exhibit the same passion and dedication toward the Methodist University cross country program that I did at Pine Forest High School over the past five years. I have high expectations of the program and myself. I intend on bringing in many accomplished student-athletes that will be the right ones to enable our program to flourish and blend well with our current student-athletes to reach their true potential."
 
At Pine Forest, Brunecz took a program with just three athletes and built it into a roster of over 50 and helped the program gain regional and statewide notoriety. He was named the 2011 Mid-South Atlantic Conference Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year and in 2014 took the boy's program to the State Championship for the first time since 1987. Brunecz developed six first team all-conference runners and 15 second team all-conference honorees in cross country, while coaching 12 conference champions, 10 regional champions, three state champions, 40 state qualifiers and 13 National qualifiers with a National Champion on the track & field side.
 
"One of my main goals is to create a cross country culture at Methodist University that all talented student-athletes want to be a part of. Having a large number of student-athletes who are doing the right thing in the classroom, and believe in the system that is in place for them, is a recipe for a successful program," added Brunecz. "Over my five years of coaching, one thing that I have learned is that it's not just about becoming the best runner you can be. It's more about becoming the best person you can be. When you can do that, everything else falls into place."
 
Brunecz ran collegiately at the State University of New York at Fredonia, where graduated from in 2006 with a bachelor of science in education. He has been teaching at Pine Forest Elementary school since 2010, and he holds a USATF Level 1 certification.