HEAD COACHES

Mike Winters

HEAD VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL

Coach Winters is in his 20th season as a Head Coach and his 6th at Harlem. He entered the season with 368 career wins and a .700 winning percentage. He has led all 5 schools he has coached to Regional Titles (Oregon, Jefferson, Rock Falls, Boylan and Harlem) and led three schools to Sectional Titles (Jefferson 2005, Rock Falls, 2006, Boylan 2013 and 2016) and has led Jefferson to a 4th place state finish in 2005. Coach Winters has been named IBCA District Coach of the Year 7 times and has won 7 conference titles, 8 regional titles and 4 sectional titles in his career. He has also coached players that have gone on and played at 10 different NCAA Division 1 schools. Coach Winters is married to Nicole and they have two children, Brandon and McKenna. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Rockford University and a Masters Degree from St. Thomas University.

Jakob Messink

HEAD VARSITY WRESTLING

Coach Messink is in 4th season as a head coach, and his 1st season at Harlem. He has spent the last 3 years at Rockford (Auburn) HS and was named NIC-10 Wrestling Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 season. He is a Harlem graduate from the class of 2013, and was an all-conference wrestler for 3 years during his time. He was a part of the wrestling teams (Coached by Cal Ferry) that qualified for state 3 years in a row from 2011-2013, and placed 4th in team state in 2011. He totaled 105 wins as an individual during his time at Harlem and was also a state qualifier. He wrestled Division II at Colorado-State Pueblo for 2 years before transferring to Illinois State University to finish his bachelor’s degree in Physical Education in 2019. He also received his masters degree in Health and Wellness Education from the American College of Education in 2021. Coach Messink is married to Morgan, and they have two children (Mikah and Malakai). He also has a German Shepard (Kai).

Summer Henderson

HEAD VARSITY DANCE

Summer Henderson is in her 13th season as head coach of the Varsity Dance Team. She has owned Studio 11 Dance Company in Machesney Park for the past 26 years. Summer is a Harlem alumni dance team member and former all-conference track team athlete, where her specialty was the 100M hurdles. Her passion for dance is life long and she enjoys teaching tap and jazz. The varsity dance team are 6 time NIC-10 conference champs and have had two appearances at State. Summer has two sons Dylan, Harlem Graduate and Hayden, Harlem Senior. She also has two sweet French bulldogs, Smalls and Yogi

Todd Mueller

HEAD VARSITY BOYS SWIMMING

Coach Todd is in his fourth year of coaching swimming and diving at Harlem, and sixth year coaching high school swimming and diving. He is a 1988 Harlem graduate where he played basketball. He then served 4 years in the United States Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After an honorable discharge from the Air Force, Coach Todd graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He has been involved with swimming for over 15 years as a parent, official, and coach. He is married to his wife, Cheri (also class of 88) for 31 years and they have three children, Calvin (24), Zachary (21), and Jeremy (18).

Beth Meyers

HEAD VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL

Beth Meyer is in her 8th year as a Head Coach at Harlem. She graduated from Naperville Central HS and got her BA from Hope College in Holland, MI. She went on to receive a MA from Concordia University Chicago and is currently attending Aurora University. During her tenure in the program, the team has always had winning seasons and finished in the top half of the conference. Coach Meyer is married to her husband, Jason. She has two fur babies - Tucker an 11.5 year old Labrador and Beau a 6.5 year old Bernese Mountain Dog.

Nick Whitmire

HEAD VARSITY BOYS BOWLING

Nick has been a team member, assistant coach, head coach, and spectator of the Harlem bowling program for the past 22 years. This is his sixth season back as head coach and he looks forward to continuing the success of the bowling program at Harlem High School. The past 5 seasons have been successful with many tournament wins along with Regional and Sectional Titles and IHSA State Finishes of 2nd, 4th, 4th, and 2 state championships. Nick has his coaching certification from the USBC and ASEP. He was a part of the 2001 Boys State Championship Team. Nick graduated from Harlem High School in 2002. He resides in Machesney Park

Jim Heathscott

HEAD VARSITY GIRLS BOWLING

Jim started coaching for Harlem High School as the Boys and Girls Head Coach in 1996-2001.. The boys’ team finished 6th, 3rd and 1st in the state tournament. The girls’ team won 54 consecutive matches and won 3 consecutive IHSA State Championships from 1999-2002. He was the boys head coach from 2004 thru 2006 during this time the boys finished 6th in IHSA State tournament. He returned as the Girls Head Coach in 2008 and the girls won the IHSA State Championship in 2011, 2017, 2018 and teams finished 2nd 2019, 2020, and 2022. The Harlem Girls also won USHSBF National Championship in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. Jim’s conference record as a girls Head Coach is 178 and 11. He lives with his wife Shannon in Loves Park

Rebecca Bawinkel

HEAD VARSITY CHEER

This is Rebecca’s tenth year as the Head Varsity Cheer Coach at Harlem. She previously coached the freshman and JV Cheer teams. Rebecca is originally from Winnebago, IL, and currently lives in Winnebago with her husband and four fur “kids.” She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Masters in Educational Pedagogy from Rockford University. During her tenure as the Head Varsity Cheer Coach, the Varsity Cheer team has had seven top-3 finishes in the NIC-10 conference, finishing as conference runner-up four times. The team has qualified for the IHSA state series five times, winning a Sectional title and making it to the State finals in 2019. This year’s team is excited to build on past successes and hopes to qualify for State again this year.