cross country coach profile

Oscar Espinosa
Head Coach

When Prairie State College added men’s and women’s cross country to its sports docket in 2005, it didn’t have to go far in its search for a head coach as it tabbed Oscar Espinosa, a former PSC student who also works in the school’s Management and Information Systems and Services department, to direct the program.

Although 2005 was Espinosa's first season ever as a head coach, he brought experience to the position after lettering in both cross country and track as a student at Bloom High School.

Espinosa and his Pioneers enjoyed their most productive season - both athletically and academically - last year as Devin Horner and Keith Burke became the first two runners in PSC’s brief cross country history to qualify to the NJCAA Championship; the men’s and women’s teams each took second at the Sauk Valley Community College Invitational and fourth at the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference Meet; the women placed third at the Waubonsee Community College Chiefs Invitational; Jolie Maldonado earned NJCAA Academic All-America honors; and Maldonado, Blanca Martinez and Justin Doup were selected to the NJCAA Cross Country Association’s All-America team as well as the academic all-conference team.

A 1999 Bloom graduate, Espinosa attended Prairie State for two years before transferring to DeVry University, where he earned a bachelor’s in computer information services in 2003. While attending DeVry, Espinosa was hired by PSC as a microcomputer technician in July 2002.

Espinosa and his wife, Griselda, have two sons. They live in Frankfort.