Jeff Bolender

Head Track & Field Coach

937-766-4136 or e-mail Coach Bolender

Jeff Bolender is in his seventh season at Cedarville University and his fifth as head coach of the Yellow Jacket men's and women's track & field teams following a two-year stint as an assistant coach. While overseeing the entire indoor and outdoor program, he will continue to focus his coaching efforts on the sprints and jumps.

The 2007 season was an outstanding one at CU. The Lady Jackets won both the NCCAA indoor and outdoor championships, claimed the American Mideast Conference title, and finished as the NAIA national outdoor runner-up after placing 6th at the NAIA indoor meet. The men took home the NCCAA indoor banner, were the outdoor runner-up, and finished 10th nationally in the NAIA both indoors and outdoors. This all came after both programs won their respective NCCAA indoor titles in 2006.

During his four-year tenure at the helm, he has coached five NAIA national champions 78 NCCAA champions, and 39 AMC champions. He has had a total of 46 NAIA All-Americans, 195 NCCAA All-Americans, and 36 NAIA and NCCAA Scholar-Athletes.

A four-year track & cross country performer before graduating from Cedarville in 1991, Bolender spent the previous five years at Mount St. Clare College in Clinton, Iowa. He developed the school's track and cross country programs, and he served as chair of the Physical Education Department.

The Mounties won three of the last five Midwest Classic Conference men's track & field championships under Bolender's leadership. They were also the 2000 men's cross country champions.

Prior to his tenure at Mount St. Clare, Bolender was a graduate assistant for two years at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He earned a Master of Science degree in education at the school in 1996.

Bolender taught health and physical education at Maranatha Christian Schools in Columbus, Ohio from 1991 through 1994 and was promoted to the position of athletic director his final year. He commuted to Cedarville during his first two years at Maranatha to assist with the Yellow Jacket distance running program.

Jeff is an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science. He and his wife, Sharie, who was a NCCAA All-America distance runner with the Jackets, reside in Cedarville with their three children: a son, Daniel, 13; older daughter, Molly, 11; and younger daughter, Isabelle, 8.

The Bolender File