The 2026 season will be Kirk Shellhouse's fourth as head coach of the Owls men’s and women’s cross country programs, as well as assistant coach for Kenyon’s track and field teams.
Last season was one of Shellhouse's best at Kenyon, as he continued to lead both the men's and women's teams through steady improvement. The men, who placed seventh at the conference championship in Shellhouse's first year in Gambier, took the runner-up spot at the 2025 NCAC Championship. The women, who placed sixth at the conference championship the previous two seasons, moved up fifth place in 2025.
During his previous three seasons with the Owl teams, Shellhouse had eight men earn All-NCAC honors, including one who claimed the NCAC Newcomer of the Year award. Four of those eight gained All-NCAC honors in the 2025 season and one went on to earn All-Region recognition. On the women's side, two runners claimed All-NCAC awards under Shellhouse's direction. Additionally, Shellhouse has had two men and two women both earn Academic All-District honors from College Sports Communicators.
In his time assisting with the Owls track and field teams, the women had five student-athletes combined for 22 All-NCAC awards and nine NCAC event titles. Two of those student-athletes went on to combine for three NCAA Championship appearances. On the men's side, the Owls had four combine for 13 All-NCAC titles and three win NCAC events titles during Shellhouse's time.
Prior to his position at Kenyon, Shellhouse spent the previous seven years at NCAA Division III Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. There he served as the head coach for both the track and field and cross country programs. He coached the men’s cross country team to runner-up finishes in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) in 2018, 2020-21, 2021 and 2022.
During his tenure with the Stormy Petrels, Shellhouse coached individual male and female athletes to a combined 89 All-SAA honors, 15 SAA individual titles, eight SAA Newcomer of the Year honors, one SAA Field Athlete of the Year honor, 18 All-Region honors, five NCAA Championship appearances, and seven U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honors.
Prior to Oglethorpe, Shellhouse served as an assistant coach at Trinity University and a graduate assistant coach at Defiance College. Before entering the collegiate ranks full-time, he coached at New London High School and Wellington High School after serving as the volunteer assistant coach at Oberlin College and a student assistant coach at Heidelberg University, his alma mater.
Shellhouse graduated from Heidelberg in 2010, where he competed on the cross country and track and field teams. While at Heidelberg, his team captured Ohio Athletic Conference cross country and track and field championships in 2009 and 2010. Shellhouse was on teams that took part in four NCAA Division III cross country championships and one Division III track and field championship as a student-athlete.
