Oglethorpe University

Kirk Shellhouse Profile
First Season as Head Coach: 2015-16
Tenure: 2022-23 is his 8th season
Alma Mater: Heidelberg, 2010

Kirk Shellhouse arrived at Oglethorpe as the head cross country/track and field coach in summer 2015 and immediately saw dividends in the track and field program.

Achievements 
He led the men's program to a runner-up finish at the Southern Athletic Association Cross Country Championships in fall 2021. This marked the third time in the last four seasons his harriers finished runner-up at the conference meet. As part of this recent success, Shellhouse coached Ashton Deriso to newcomer of the year in cross country and track & field. Deriso was the first athlete in SAA history to achieve both cross country and track & field newcomer of the year awards.
Over the last four years, the program has seen multiple conference champions, including most recently Deriso in the 1500 meters and Kinsey Wilson in the high jump. Shellhouse's men's and women's teams also have amassed multiple all-region athletes in both cross country and track & field. 
Immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shellhouse's program was achieving unprecedented success. The 2018-19 season proved to be one of the best seasons, as Shellhouse coached his charges to five SAA event titles at the SAA Track and Field Championships, including Arielle Shaw in the women's triple jump, Bryce McNealey in the men's 400 meters, Toju Etiwe in the men's long jump, and a victory in the men's 4-by-400 relay. Etiwe earned SAA Men's Field Athlete of the Year and SAA Men's track & field newcomer of the year honors as well. 

Shellhouse also coached Shaw and McNealey to appearances at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, marking the first career appearance for McNealey in the 400 meters and the third career appearance for Shaw in the triple jump. 

Shellhouse led his men's cross country team to second place at the SAA Cross Country Championships in 2018, and to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional. The Stormy Petrels also qualified an individual for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships for the first time since 1994.

Prior to Oglethorpe
Shellhouse coached at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where he served as the cross country/track and field assistant coach for the 2014-15 season. While there, his teams won men’s and women’s Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) championships in outdoor track and field in 2015. Before his stay at Trinity, he worked as the assistant coach at Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, from 2012 to 2014, where he was a part of teams that won the women’s outdoor and indoor track and field championships in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2014. While there, he also earned his Master of Arts in education in 2014. 
Shellhouse also served as an assistant coach at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, in the spring of 2011, as well as serving as a head and assistant coach at the high school level in Ohio. He holds a USATF Level 1 and USTFCCCA Track and Field Academy Technical coaching certifications.

Personal
Shellhouse earned a Bachelor of Science in history and education from Heidelberg University in 2010. 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. He served as a student assistant coach for the program in the fall of 2010. Shellhouse was also a member of Heidelberg’s Excelsior Men’s Society as an undergraduate student.

Kirk and his wife Sarah reside in nearby Gwinnett County.

Shellhouse Teams By the Numbers:
85 All-SAA performers (Track and field - 34 women, 32 men; cross country - 18 men, 1 women)
15 SAA Champions 
8 SAA Newcomers of the Year
1 SAA Field Athlete of the Year
18 All-Region Performers
5 NCAA Championship Qualifiers
7 USTFCCCA All-Academic Honorees