Shayla Houlihan

Shayla is the Head Men’s and Women’s coach for Grand Canyon University. A decorated runner in her own right, Houlihan has an impressive coaching resume that includes several top-10 recruiting classes, appearances at NCAA Championships, conference titles, All-Americans, national team coaching experience and academic success.

A record-setting runner in college, Houlihan competed for Northern Iowa and Utah. She set Utah's 3,000-meter steeplechase record in 2008 and placed in the top 10 in two events at the Mountain West Championships. Houlihan's running career continued into the professional ranks where she competed in the steeple. She posted a personal record of 9:51.26 in 2011 which qualified as an Olympic Trials A Standard time. She was ranked seventh in the country in the event by Track & Field News in 2010. Her career culminated with a top-25 finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012. While still competing, Houlihan began the early stages of her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Utah (2007-10) and then an assistant coach at Team Run Flagstaff (2010-12).

After the completion of her competitive running career, Houlihan started a seven-year stint at Cal. In that span, she was expeditiously promoted up the ladder from assistant coach to assistant head coach to associate head coach and, ultimately, cross country head coach. In her seven seasons on staff, Cal had top-10 recruiting classes four times by identifying national and international talent. Leading the Golden Bears cross country teams for two seasons, Houlihan led both the men's and women's teams to appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. In 2017, Cal's women's team placed 22nd at the NCAA Championships with two All-American finishes. One of Houlihan's most decorated runners, Bethan Knights, also achieved All-American status in 2016 and 2017 at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. In her first season as head coach, both the men's and women's teams were the most improved academically in Cal's athletic department. The men's team had the department's top GPA in 2016 and 2017.

Houlihan returned to the Grand Canyon State in 2019 to help found Under Armour's Dark Sky Distance, a professional running club in Flagstaff. She served as a co-head coach and recruited national-level talent to join the team. In her two years with Dark Sky Distance, five Olympic-qualifying time standards were achieved by runners.

Returning to the collegiate coaching ranks, Houlihan took the reins of UC Santa Barbara's cross country program in 2021 and led the Gauchos for two seasons. Her impact was felt immediately, leading the men's team to the 2021 Big West Championship and picking up the conference's coach of the year award. In both of her seasons leading the cross country program, UCSB had the Big West's Freshman of the Year on the men's side.

Houlihan also has built a national reputation after serving as the men's national distance coach for USA Track & Field in 2022 as well as holding national positions with the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coach's Association. Coach Houlihan has been a part of the foundation of Camp Elevate as a coach since year one. She brings a wealth of coaching knowledge from the collegiate and professional level and has been a big part of making Camp Elevate successful!