Stephanie Beck enters her third season leading the Purdue University Northwest's head men's cross country team and first as the women's cross country coach, after leading Purdue Calumet the last two seasons, and is looking to build on the stellar progress both teams made in 2015.
In the 2015 season, Alex Cordova earned a spot in the National Championships for the first time in school history where he placed 102nd overall out of 326 with a school-record time of 26 minutes, 17 seconds.
Cordova also recieved CCAC Runner of the Week honors after winning the inaugural Northwest Classic with a 5K time of 16 minutes, 3 seconds.
Alex and his cousin Sal Cordova also broke in to Peregrine history with the two highest place finishes in the CCAC Championships, after Alex finished 17th and Sal finished 22nd to lead the pack.
Beck also saw four runners from both the men’s and women’s cross country teams receive CCAC All-Academic Honors, while sophomore runner Abigail Bondi earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete accolades.
Under Beck's leadership, the men's squad captured its best-ever finish at the 2014 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, placing fifth -- five spots higher than the Peregrines' did the previous season. In the season finale, the Peregrine men saw six runners record sub-30-minute finishes, led by a pair of Top 25 finishes from Beck recruits and cousins, Alex (21st) and Salvador Cordova (25th). Those finishes proved to be the best in program history.
The Cordova cousins both captured CCAC Runner of the Week honors -- the first in program history -- and went back and forth by breaking the 8-kilometer record five times before finishing the season tied with the program-best mark of 26 minutes and 31 seconds. Both Alex and Salvador also captured two individual titles, as Alex crossed the line first at the Indiana East Red Wolves Regional Rumble and Salvador took home the title at the Crimson Wave Invite.
Beck's leadership didn't just equate into success with the men's squad, as the Peregrine women regained consistency by fielding a team in all eight meets in 2014, highlighted by a second-place team finish at the IU-East Red Wolves Regional Rumble. Freshman Heather Kristensen started the season with an individual title at the same meet, and the squad -- led by five freshman -- went on to take a strong third at the Crimson Wave Invite.
Beck, a Mishawaka native, took over a program that has continued to progress in its three seasons since being introduced in the fall of 2011.
In addition to her cross country duties, Beck serves as the lead assistant coach for the Peregrines’ nationally-ranked women’s basketball team, which captured its fifth-straight 20-win season in the 2015-16 campaign.
Beck helped lead the Peregrines to a 22-9 overall record with a 13-6 record in CCAC play in the 2015-16 season, with junior Cassidy Deno and sophomore Katie Wampler being named to the All-CCAC team.
That wasn’t the only honor for Deno, as she was named an NAIA Scholar-Athlete and received NAIA Third-Team All-American honors.
During the 2014-15 season, the Peregrines finished 21-8 and captured the CCAC South Division Title. Purdue Calumet was ranked as high as No. 8 in the NAIA Coaches Top 25 National Poll, which marked the team's highest-ever ranking. Under Beck's tutelage, junior transfer Jada Buggs was named an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American, while junior Patrice McBee led the nation in field goal percentage and was named the school's first-ever NAIA National Player of the Week to go along with four all-CCAC selections and four CCAC Player of the Weeks.
Beck assisted the Peregrines to perhaps their best season to date in 2013-14, as Purdue Calumet -- with an overall record of 25-7 -- captured both the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament title, advanced to its second-straight National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national tournament, and won its first national tournament contest in school history with an opening-round victory over Oregon Tech. Senior Brooklyn Short was also named an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American that season.
Beck was a four-year starter and two-year First-Team all-CCAC standout for the Black and Gold on the hardwood, where she stands third on the all-time scoring list (1,686 points) and holds the record for 3-pointers made in a career with 252.
At Mishawaka High School, Beck starred on both the hardwood and the cross country course, where she was team captain and three-year letter winner for the Cavemen cross country team, leading the team to a pair of IHSAA Semi-State appearances.
An alumnus of Purdue Calumet, she owns a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management. Beck earned a master's of coaching and athletic administration through Concordia University Irvine.
