AT HARDING
Steve Guymon is in his 18th year as head men and women's cross-country and track coach. Since taking over the program before the 2002-03 school year, he has earned 24 conference championships and conference coach of the year honors. He won the Gulf South Conference Men's Cross-Country Coach of the Year honor eight times, GSC Women's Cross-Country Coach of the Year six times, Great American Conference Women's Cross-Country Coach of the Year four times, GAC Men's Cross-Country Coach of the Year twice, GAC Women's Track and Field Coach of the Year twice and GAC Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year twice.
Guymon added his 24th conference championship in 2017 with the Harding men winning the GAC Cross-Country Championship. Harding's men's and women's track and field teams also won the 2016 and 2017 GAC Track and Field Championships.
Guymon has continued to build on the strong tradition of Harding cross-country and track, directing the Bison cross-country team to eight NCAA II regional championships. Harding's men have qualified for eight Division II national meets under Guymon, recording six top-10 finishes.
The Lady Bisons have won two NCAA Division II regional titles and reached the national meet eight times with four top-10 finishes.
Guymon's cross-country athletes have earned 30 All-America honors (18 men, 12 women) during his tenure at Harding.
Under Guymon, the Bison track team has qualified for eight indoor national meets, including an eighth-place finish in 2008. Guymon's squad has also reached outdoor nationals 14 times, finishing as high as seventh in 2006.
Four Bison runners have won seven national championships under Guymon (Jacob Rotich, 10,000 meters in 2004; Przemek Bobrowski, 1,500 meters in 2006; Julius Kosgei, 10,000 meters in 2006; and Daniel Kirwa, indoor mile in 2008, outdoor 5,000 meters in 2009 and outdoor 10,000 meters in 2008 and 2009).
Guymon's Lady Bisons have reached the indoor national meet 10 times and have reached the outdoor nationals nine times. Their best finish was eighth in 2005. Janet Kogo, a 2012 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, won three national championships in 2005.
Harding's track athletes have garnered 80 All-America honors (25 indoor men, 29 outdoor men, 15 indoor women, and 11 outdoor women) during Guymon's tenure as head coach.
Guymon has been an active member of the United States Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association. He was the organization's Division II vice president from 2007-10 and president from 2011-13. He has served on the USTFCCCA's Hall of Fame Committee, Meet Enhancement Committee and NCAA Connection Committee since 2014.
BEFORE HARDING
Guymon came to Harding from Cordova High School where he led Cordova to third place in the TSSAA State Championship in 2001. He was also named “Best of the Preps” Track Coach of the Year by the Memphis Commercial Appeal, TSSAA Section 4AAA Track Coach of the Year, and TSSAA Region 7 Track Coach of the Year and earned TSSAA Region 7 Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2000.
Prior to his five-year tenure at Cordova, Guymon spent ten years as the recruiting coordinator and assistant cross country/track coach at the University of Kansas. During his time with the Jayhawks, he coached 15 All-Americans and 15 Big Eight individual champions.
Guymon taught and coached three years at Harding Academy from 1985-87 and started his career in 1984 in the Edmond, Okla., public school system.
COLLEGIATE CAREER
Guymon earned NAIA All-America honors in track and cross country five times from 1982 to 1984 at Oklahoma Christian. He finished 10th at the NAIA cross country meet in 1982, was a member of OC distance medley relay teams that won national titles in 1983 and 1984 and placed fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the 1983 and 1984 NAIA meets. He once held the OC outdoor school record in the 6,400-meter relay at 17:11.24.
In 2018, Guymon was inducted into the Oklahoma Christian Athletics Hall of Fame.
EDUCATION
The Memphis, Tennessee, native earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Oklahoma Christian University in 1984. Guymon earned a Master’s Degree in Education and Sports Administration from Kansas in 1996.
FAMILY
Guymon's wife, Julie, is a 1986 Harding graduate and former president of Shantih social club. Guymon has three sons — Michael, Corey, and Austin.
