John O’Malley, Sandburg H.S.: Distance & Cross Country
Orland Park (Sandburg) boys head coach John O’Malley. Malley, who is a Sandburg graduate, came back home to steer the Eagles ship in 2003. Since that time his squads have been amazing. The cross country team has qualified for the state championship every season since he has been at the helm. Success hasn’t just been at the state level for O’Malley and the Eagles. They finished 15th and 4th at the Nike Cross Nationals the past two seasons. The Eagles 4×800 relay ran an astounding 7:37.36 to break the metric all-time state meet record in defending their title. The feat was US #1 at the time and drew praise from more than just distance running fans too! Individually, O’Malley’s guys have won multiple state medals in cross country and track. Most recently his star pupils Sean and Chris Torpy won the 1600 and 800 along with the 4×8 relay 3A state titles. Sean set an all-time record in the 800 at the Midwest Distance Classic blazing a US #1 1:47.95. This weekend the Torpy’s will compete in the very prestigious Brooks PR Invite in Seattle. Somewhere either in the stands of Rend Memorial Stadium or in front of his computer at home on Saturday afternoon, you can bet Coach John O’Malley will be smiling.