There have been an awful lot of great distance runners who have worn the navy blue and gold singlet down through the years and Tony VanDeWalle can take his place with the best of those. He was a highly touted recruit out of Rock Island High School and he made an immediate impact on both the cross country and track and field programs at Augustana.
He was named the Most Valuable Freshman in cross country in 1983 when he finished ninth in the CCIW championship meet. He repeated that honor in track and field in the spring of 1984. A four year letterwinner in both cross country and track and field, VanDeWalle was the model of consistency and versatility throughout his career. He handled the grueling five miles of cross country as easily as the fast pace of the 800 and 1500 events in track and field.
Three times in his career he was in the top 10 in the CCIW cross country meet. After finishing ninth as a freshman, he was seventh as a junior and fourth as a senior in one of the toughest conferences in the nation in terms of distance running. He was team captain in 1986 and earned NCAA Division III All-America honors that same year when he finished 13th in the national meet and led his team to an eighth place finish. Earlier in his career he finished 45th in the 1984 national meet and helped the Vikings place ninth in the nation. He was voted his team’s MVP in both 1985 and 1986 and he set a Credit Island Course Road Record in 1986 when he ran 24:12 for five miles. He also set a course record at the Washington Invitational.
When it came time for track season VanDeWalle had no problem switching to the shorter distances. He earned NCAA Division III All-America honors twice in track and field, both in the 1500 meters. He is still on the books as a member of the school record distance medley relay team. He ran the leadoff leg for a team that clocked a time of 9:52.34 in 1985, when he was a sophomore. He was named the Vikings’ Most Valuable Freshman in track & field in 1984.
Although it has been over 20 years since he last ran a race for Augustana, he still has the third fastest time in the mile (4:10.3 in 1985) in school history and the seventh best in the 1500 (3:50.8). He also ran a leg on a 3200 relay team that stopped the watches at 7:41.7, which is the ninth best time in school history.
VanDeWalle earned a degree in business administration and he is currently the business development manager at General Electric. He has maintained his interest in running and is currently the head coach for boys and girls cross country at Rock Island Alleman High School and also serves as the assistant coach in boys and girls track & field where he works with the distance runners. He and his wife Janet live in Rock Island and have four children: Nicholas, Kyle, Tony and Lucas.
