When new Morton College men's and women's cross country coach Chris Buechner (pronounced beak – ner) speaks, there's definitely going to be an Al Carius influence.

For a first-time coach and three-time All-American, there's no one better to emulate while creating your own footprint.

Carius has won a record 19 NCAA Division III national cross country championships at North Central College in Naperville. The Cardinals also have claimed 45 consecutive conference crowns.

"Running for Al Carius was a privilege I got to experience," Buechner said. "It's unbelievable to be part of that legacy."

Buechner did his part to uphold the Carius legacy, helping the Cardinals to an NCAA Division III cross country championship in 2018. His eighth-place finish secured Buechner individual All-American honors. The Glen Ellyn native also earned All-American accolades twice in indoor track as part North Central's  distance medley relay teams in 2017 (sixth place) and 2018 (seventh place).. 

Buechner was a standout in cross country and track at Glenbard West High School, which competed in highly-competitive West Suburban Conference Silver Division. He chose to walk on at the University of Alabama, sold on the Crimson Tide's solid education and cross country/track programs. Buechner then decided he wanted to be closer to home and transferred to North Central, a small liberal arts college with an outstanding reputation in education, cross country and track.

"I really wanted to get into teaching and coaching," said the December 2019 graduate of North Central. "I did my student-teaching at Naperville North and really fell in love with it. I try to inspire student-athletes to be their best. There's the excitement in seeing growth and improvement."

Buechner extend his appreciation to Morton College athletic director John Treiber for giving him the chance to run the Panther program, which produced a conference championship on the men's side last year.

"I'm really grateful for the opportunity to lead a college program," Buechner said. "I appreciate athletic director John Treiber putting a lot of faith in me. I'm excited for the opportunity to work in a college setting."

Buechner, who will be teaching World History at Morton High School's Freshman Center in Cicero, listed his goals for the Morton College program.

"We definitely want to run our best," Buechner said. "We want it to be fun, have everyone get better and get better as athletes and students. We want to develop a sense of accountability and value running as a pack. You need at least five runners to cross the finish line for team success.

"Without that, you can win individual accolades, but can't do anything team-wise without the other four people. We want to show the importance of running in a pack."

Buechner will continue Morton College's long-standing tradition of running against four-year as well two-year schools.

"I think it's important to go against people out of your league," Buechner said. "We always looked forward to running against the Division I schools. You shouldn't be afraid of any competition, yet you should respect it."