Bio - Lori Gonzalez — Palatine Pack

Lori Gonzalez (Palatine Pack TFCC)

Lori Gonzalez is a long-time runner, coach, and Palatine resident. She has taught special education and coached girls cross country at Glenbrook North High School for the past 18 years. She also coaches our youngsters in the summer Youth Camp and our distance runners in the Palatine Pack TFCC club.

Lori has coached both soccer and girls cross country at Glenbrook North. She has coached a team to a 7th place finish in the IHSA state meet along with 2 All-State runners. This past November her athlete placed 2nd overall in Class 3A.

As an athlete, Lori exceled in both cross country, indoor track and soccer while attending Winston Campus Junior High and Palatine High School. At Palatine, she was a top 7 athlete on both the 1996 IHSA Class 2A state championship team and the 1997 team that placed 4th. She was a four year Mid-Suburban League All-Conference runner, the 1998 Palatine runner of the year, and a team captain.

In soccer, she starred on the 1997 IHSA Class 2A fourth place trophy team. She played varsity all four years, was both All-Conference and All-Sectional, and was chosen as both team captain and team MVP. She was Palatine High School’s female athlete of the year in 2000 and was elected into the Palatine High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014 alongside her cross country teammates from the 1989-1996 era.

Collegiately, Lori competed in soccer at Eastern Illinois University. She played on an OVC regular season championship team in 2000 and three consecutive OVC tournament champions in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Those latter three teams each reached the NCAA tournament.

Lori lives in Palatine with her three kids - Madi, Emma, and Levi. Her husband, Jesse, is a Spanish teacher and soccer coach at Conant High School. She prefers to spend time with her kids, coaching them and cheering them on at their sporting events. She also continues to love running, having run 6 marathons (most recent the Boston Marathon in 2021) and is part of the Fast Track Racing Team. She also serves as the Director of the U6 league for Palatine Celtic Soccer, is an avid Chicago Sports fan, rules at planning both vacations and parties, and loves new adventures!