Contact: Emily Zadny, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302   
(Written by Julie Laugel, Student Sports Information Assistant)   

May 30, 2018 - Growing up in Palatine, Illinois, North Central College men's track and field student-athlete Adam Poklop had a passion for many sports. Perhaps to some surprise, basketball was his favorite.  

"Up until high school I played baseball, basketball, and soccer. Then when high school came around, I decided to just focus on basketball. I feel like I've always been a basketball player at heart," Poklop said. 

Although Poklop loved the game of basketball, he was cut from his high school team and decided to continue to stay on as the team manager. What seemed like a defeating moment for Poklop ended up being a turning point in his athletic career. 

"I'm not the best basketball player or anything, but I can dunk. I was goofing around dunking after practice one day and it just so happened that the track coach was walking through the gym and saw me and the potential that was there," he said. "He was able to convince me to come out for track that spring,"  

Being a junior in high school without any previous experience competing in track and field, Poklop was surprised at how quickly he became skilled and accustomed to high jumping. Even after only competing in one full season of track and field, he decided that he wanted to compete in collegiate track and field as well when it came time to start looking at schools.  

"I basically narrowed it down between North Central and Augustana. I visited both schools, had overnight visits, and I just kind of liked the feel that I had at North Central," he said. "I think I like being closer to home as well. That's an important thing for me, and I know my parents have appreciated that because they've been able to come to almost every competition and can just drop in when they want to." 

Starting his freshman year at North Central, Poklop was immediately inspired and motivated by his senior teammate at the time, Femi Oyewole '15.  

"I think I was motivated just by watching him. He really led by example and I've really tried to follow in his footsteps," said Poklop. "He was a very good jumper and I think that this past season, now that I'm a senior, I've kind of tried to fill in his shoes and mentor our freshman jumper, Nick Janca, so that's been another cool experience with watching him grow this season." 

Along with his teammates, Poklop was greatly influenced by his coaches throughout his athletic career as well.  

"I think Ken Helberg, my high jump coach for the past two years, has had a huge influence on me. Even just for those two years he's seen me grow a lot athletically and iits those two years that I've really been able to excel and compete at nationals," he said. "But I think he would also talk about my maturing as a person and mentor as well. 

"When it comes to influential people, I always think about college, but honestly if my high school coach, John Nalley, had not convinced me to come out for track in the first place, none of this would have been possible, so he's another big influencer in my life." 

Along with gaining many friendships and mentors throughout his athletic career, Poklop also takes away many memorable moments and experiences from his track and field involvement.  

"Being able to compete at three nationals has been super cool," he said. "I think the biggest thing is that I've grown so close with all the guys on the team-it's basically like one big family-so it's going to be hard to see that go in a little bit," Poklop said.  

Outside of his commitments to track and field, Poklop enjoys reading, writing, and working for the school newspaper, The Chronicle.  He has worked for the student newspaper for three years and enjoys being able to cover and write stories that have an impact. 

After graduation on June 9, Poklop has decided to add to his undergraduate degree in History and Journalism by attending graduate school at North Central and has accepted the position of graduate assistant in the Sports Information department.  

"I've never really had a sound plan on what I wanted to do after school. I realized that this was going to be a really good opportunity for me because it allows me to have that hands-on journalism experience as well as getting to continue to be a part of North Central athletics. I get to continue my education for two years for free basically so I'm excited for that." he said.  

Poklop hopes to use his time as a graduate assistant to help figure out his career path. He plans to get his master's degree in Writing, Editing, and Publishing. Although he is not sure what he wants to do, he can see himself working in sports information in the future and would love to eventually be able to write a book or become a sports journalist.  

With the track and field season having come to an end, Poklop's career as an athlete is over, but he is very excited for the next chapter of his North Central experience.