Lenoir-Rhyne University Athletics

Jason Stewart is beginning his 13th year as Head Men's and Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2016-17.

Last spring, Stewart was named the South Atlantic Conference Men's Track and Field Coach Of The Year after leading the Bears to a second-place finish at the league championship.  The Bears also finished second in 2014.

In 2013, Kevin Baxter (men's 55-meter hurdles) became Lenoir-Rhyne's first-ever NCAA Division II Men's All-American in Indoor Track and Field with a sixth-place finish in the finals in Birmingham, Ala., and earned All-American accolades in 2015 in the same event.

Baxter also garnered NCAA D-II Outdoor Track and Field All-American honors in the men's 110-meter hurdles three times (2014, 2015 and 2016) while Haylea Salamon was an outdoor All-American in the women's discus in 2015 in Allendale, Mich., as well.

Under Stewart's guidance, Kate Griewisch earned D-II All-American accolades in track and field in the outdoor 10K (2011-12), the outdoor 5K (2012) and the indoor 5K (2012) as well. In 2012, Griewisch finished third in the women's outdoor 10,000-meter championship.

Stewart coached former LR standout Lamont Savage to a 10th-place finish in the long jump in the 2007 NCAA Division II Track and Field Outdoor National Championship in Charlotte, N.C.

Stewart is a Level I Certified USATF Track and Field Coach and a Level II Certified USATF Endurance Coach.

In addition, Stewart has also led the LR Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams since 2001 and completed his 16th year as Bears mentor this past fall.

Since taking over the cross country programs, Stewart has elevated the squads to the upper echelon of the South Atlantic Conference.

On the men's side, Stewart has guided the Bears to two NCAA Division II National Championship appearances and regional runner-up places (2003 and 2004) and six SAC second-place finishes (2003-06, 2009-10).

Stewart has led the women's squad to three South Atlantic Conference Championships (2008-09 and 2012) in addition to three runner-up finishes in 2007, 2010 and 2011.

Stewart also coached LR's first-ever Women's Cross Country All-American Griewisch, who earned AA honors three straight years (2009-11) and finished fourth at the NCAA Division II National Championship race in 2011.

Griewisch also won the Southeast Regional race for three consecutive seasons (2009-11) in women's cross country.

Stewart, a 1996 graduate of Appalachian State with a bachelor's degree in mathematics secondary education, was a four-year letterwinner on the Mountaineer Track and Field Team (1992-96). Stewart also got in master's degree in mathematics secondary education at ASU in 2006.

Stewart and his wife, Emily, are the proud parents of four children: Jonah, Ethan, Leah and Alayna. The family resides in Conover, N.C.