BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Bridgewater College's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Denver Davis announced the hiring of Lance Harden as next head coach of the men's and women's cross country programs on Monday afternoon.

"I'm very excited to add Lance to our staff," said Davis. "He brings exactly the type of experience and philosophy to our program that I value and I truly believe he will help in taking our distance program to the next level. I'm looking forward to this new era for Bridgewater Cross Country and seeing Lance lead this program."

Harden previously served as the head coach of the Stevens Institute of Technology's cross country and track & field programs beginning in 2018. While with the Ducks, Harden guided Gina Dello Russo to a national championship in the 400-meter dash at the 2021 NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships. He was also named the 2020 Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. During his time in New Jersey, he coached student-athletes to 32 school records, three MAC championship records and six MAC all-time records and guided 12 total NCAA Championship qualifiers. Harden served as the Metro Region representative for the NCAA Division III Track & Field and Cross Country committee.

"Thank you to Denver Davis, Ginger Patterson, Heather Grant and Curt Kendall for giving me the opportunity to coach at Bridgewater," said Harden. "I'm looking forward to working with Denver and Joseph Brunner, building upon the tradition of excellence that they've created, and continuing the legacy established by Brian Flynn, Doc Jopson, and all of the other great coaches here."

Before coming to Stevens, Harden was an assistant cross country and track & field coach at both Emory University and Williams College. With Emory, he helped coach the team to four consecutive NCAA national championship berths and coached a pair of teams to South/Southeast Regional championships. Harden was named the 2016 USTFCCCA Men's Outdoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year.

While at Williams, Harden was a vital part of the cross country programs making six national championship appearances with both teams finishing within the top 12 in all appearances and the women's program garnering a pair of podium finishes in the team standings.

Harden's coaching career has seen a total of 29 NCAA All-Americans (cross country and indoor/outdoor track & field).

Harden is a graduate of Davidson College where he earned a degree in philosophy. He was a member of the cross country and indoor/outdoor track & field programs where he set several school records during his time as a student-athlete. Harden graduated from the school with records in the 8K (cross country), 3,000-meter run (indoor), 5,000-meter run (indoor) and as part of the 4x1,500 meter relay team (outdoor). In addition, Harden won one Southern Conference individual championships in track & field and claimed eight overall First Team All-Southern Conference honors.

He has a Level 2 USA Track and Field coaching certification in throws and endurance.

In addition to his duties as head cross country coach, Harden will serve as an assistant coach for the track & field teams and coach the distance runners.