Coach Jay Stephenson begins his first year as the Shorter College Men's and Women's Cross Country head coach. Before coming to Shorter, Stephenson coached at Berry College for 2 years.
While at Berry the men's team qualified for the NAIA Cross Country National Championship meet three times and the women's team qualified for the NAIA Cross Country National Championship meet two times. Also several individuals qualified for the NAIA Indoor and Outdoor National Championship meets. The teams also had two Cross Country All-Americans and several Academic All-Americans in Cross Country and Track.
Coach Stephenson graduated from Berry College in 2003 with a B.S. in Marketing concentrating in Sports Marketing, and a minor in Coaching. As an athlete Stephenson was a three time All-American at Berry College, twice in the 3000m Steeplechase and once in Cross Country.
Coach Stephenson has pursued the scientific side of running through graduate study at Georgia State University. Stephenson will complete his Masters of Exercise Science degree in the summer of 2006. Coach Stephenson is USATF Level I Certified. He looks forward to completing their USATF Level II Coaching Certification in 2007.
As an athlete, Coach Jay is still competing on the national level. He has PRs of 14:18 for 5k, 29:43 for 10k, and 8:53 for the 3k Steeplechase.
Karmen Stephenson - Assistant Coach
Karmen Stephenson is a 2002 graduate of Berry College where she was 4 time NAIA National Cross Country qualifier and 2 time NAIA National Indoor Track Qualifier. She was a 2 time selection to the Transouth All Conference Team.
Her college track experience included the 400m, 800m, 1500m, and 4x800 and 4x800 relays. She is a USA Track and Field Level 1 Coach. While at Berry, Stephenson was part of four NAIA Cross Country National teams and two NAIA Indoor Track National teams. Her PRs are 19:50 for CC 5k, 4:56 for 1500m, and 2:22 for 800m. She earned a Bachelors of Science from Berry with a Major in Chemistry and a Math minor in 2002 and will receive her Masters of Education in Middle Grades from Berry this summer.
