Women's Cross Country
- Title:
- Volunteer Assistant Coach
After serving the previous year and a half on staff as a volunteer, Laura Harmon was elevated to the position of full-time assistant coach in August 2012. She is a former collegiate cross country All-American, two-time 5,000m NCAA qualifier and two-time Oregon 4A high school state champion.
During her first two seasons as a full-time assistant, Harmon has closely tutored some of Oregon State’s best distance performers, including two-time NCAA West Preliminary Championships participant Kinsey Gomez.
Gomez, who made her first postseason appearance in the 5K in 2013, earned her second trip to the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in 2014, this time in the 10K. Her school-record time of 34:37.80 at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. on April 17 was seeded 38th in the west. In just her second-ever try at the grueling distance, Gomez ran 34:41.41 at the West Prelims to finish 13th, just eight seconds behind 12th place and a spot at the NCAA Championships in Eugene. She is in the top four at OSU all-time in the 1,500m (4:26.89; 4th), 3,000m (9:49.17; 3rd), 5,000m (16:24.17; 2nd) and 10,000m (34:37.80; 1st).
Over the past two seasons, Oregon State student-athletes have put forth 11 performances that rank in the top 10 in school history in the 1,500m (four), 3,000m (two), 5,000m (three) and 10,000m (two).
Harmon, a native of Vancouver, Wash., was an all-state performer at Jesuit High School in Beaverton and concluded her high school career in 2000 with 4A wins in the 1,500 and 3,000 in times of 4:39.67 and 10:04.32, respectively. In cross country Harmon finished third as a senior at the 1999 state meet (19:03), ninth as a junior (19:42) and eighth as a sophomore, also leading her Jesuit squad to team titles in 1998 and 1999.
Continuing her collegiate career at Oregon, Harmon was a 2004 cross country All-American and NCAA qualifier in the 5,000 in both 2004 (outdoor) and 2005 (indoor). She wrapped up her cross country career and claimed All-America honors in her second NCAA championship race in November 2004, finishing 31st against the top 255 runners in the nation in the 6K race (21:08) and in the process notched UO's highest NCAA women's placing since 1998.
On the track, in the spring of 2004, she received a NCAA invite after posting a personal best in the 5,000 final at the West Regional (third, 16:33.17). In her NCAA outdoor debut two weeks later, she bettered her pre-meet seed by three positions and finished 18th in a time of 17:18.41. On Feb. 12, 2005 Harmon ran an indoor personal best of 16:18.56 in the 5,000 at the Husky Classic and finished 15th at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11 (17:24.21).
After her career in Eugene, Harmon returned to Jesuit where she coached for four years, helping the Crusaders to a quartet of cross country state titles and the school's first women's track state championship in 2008.
