EDWARDSVILLE
BOYS' TRACK & FIELD
SPRINTS & SPRINT RELAYS
Head Coach, Chad Lakatos
Coach Chad Lakatos earned his bachelor's from SIU-Carbondale and Master's in Educational Administration from Eastern Illinois University. Chad Lakatos has dedicated 26 years to the fields of teaching and coaching in football and track & field, with 23 of those years serving as a head coach in track & field. His coaching career began at Herrin High School, where he successfully guided his teams to achieve three state trophies during his relatively brief tenure, including back-to-back State titles at the IHSA Class A State Championship in 2007 and 2008.
In 2009, he took on the position of head coach for the boys' track and field team at Edwardsville High School. Under his leadership, the program rapidly progressed to become one of the premier teams in Illinois, achieving three IHSA Class 3A Team State Championships in 2015, 2017, and 2024, as well as securing four IHSA Class 3A State Runner-Up awards in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2022.
Throughout his career, he has coached six sprint relay teams to state championships and has produced over twenty individual State Champions, in addition to mentoring several All-Americans. Two of his athletes have been awarded the Illinois Gatorade Athlete of the Year award. His teams have achieved a total of 12 IHSA Sectional titles and 16 conference championships.
Chad has been honored as Coach of the Year on multiple occasions and has shared his knowledge at various clinics, including ITCCCA-South, ITCCCA-North, Bureau Valley, and TFC. Since 2004, he has organized summer speed camps for participants aged five and older. Additionally, he has provided private training to numerous athletes, both individually and in small groups, and has been implementing the "Feeding the Cats" philosophy for over two decades.
HURLDES & SPRINTS
Assistant Coach, Alec Holler
Coach Alec Holler has been a boys assistant track and field coach at Edwardsville high school since 2010. He has also coached football for the past 15 years.
Coach Holler’s event focus in track and field is the hurdles. At Edwardsville, he has coached 13 state qualifiers, 9 all staters, 3 state champions, and one state record holder (Travis Anderson, 13.59 in 110 High Hurdles).
In the last ten years, Edwardsville has been the #1 most successful track program in Illinois (three IHSA Class 3A Team State Championships in 2015, 2017, and 2024, as well as securing four IHSA Class 3A State Runner-Up awards in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2022).
DISTANCE
Assistant Coach, George Patrylak
Coach George Patrylak is entering his twenty second year as an Assistant Boy's Track and Field Coach at Edwardsville High School, where Coach Patrylak works with the team's distance runners. During his tenure, Coach Patrylak has worked with All-State runners in the 3200 Meter Relay, the 800 Meter Run, the 1600 Meter Run, and the 3200 Meter Run. In 2022, Ryan Watts was state champion in both the 1600 and 3200. Ryan ran a school record in the 3200 that year (8:54.09). Two of his athletes have set the EHS boys 800 record, Daniel Mazar and Wes Schoenthal (1:51.91). Coach Patrylak recently completed his twenty first year as Head Coach of the EHS Cross Country team. In his 21 years of coaching cross country at EHS, he has led the boys' team to eighteen appearances and the girls' team to 15 appearances at the IHSA State Cross Country Championships. Coach Patrylak was a multiple time All-State distance runner in high school at Lincoln Way Central High School and is a 1998 graduate from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where he held the cross-country school record for 10k for 20 years (1994-2014), with a time of 31:38.
JUMPS
Assistant Coach, Carry Bailey
Coach Bailey has been coaching at EHS since 2008, coaching both track and field and varsity football. Previously, Coach Bailey spent the 2003-2007 seasons coaching at his Alma mater, Du Quoin. He is a 2010 graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a bachelor’s degree in education and is a current teacher in the social studies department at EHS. As a jumps coach, he has produced 18 IHSA outdoor all-state jumpers, including the 2006 Class A champion in the triple jump, Ridge Thompson, and the 2015 state champion long jumper, Fontez Davis. He has been a part of five IHSA State trophy teams including the 2015 state championship Edwardsville team.
THROWS
Assistant Coach, Jake Foster
Coach Jacob Foster has been a member of the EHS Boys Track & Field coaching staff since 2022, serving as the Boys Throws Coach. Prior to moving to EHS to coach track, Coach Foster served as the head track coach at Liberty Middle School in 2020 and 2021 as well as an assistant coach at Lincoln Middle School from 2016-2019. In addition to serving as the EHS Boys Throws Coach, Coach Foster also has been a member of the EHS Football staff since 2014. Coach Foster has a Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University – Irvine and Bachelor of Science in Education from Greenville University. He has been a Physical Education and Health Education Teacher in Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 since the fall of 2014. Coach Foster graduated from Edwardsville High School in 2005.
POLE VAULT
