Staff Directory

Laura Harmon

Title:
Head Women's Cross Country/Assistant Track Coach
Email:

Laura Harmon takes over the women's Cyclone cross country program after four successful seasons at Washington State University, where she was the head of women's cross country and an assistant on the track. This is a continuation of her 22-year coaching career, where she has found success at both the high school and collegiate levels.

The highlight of Harmon's latest successes has been her first athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, as Rosemary Longisa took the win in the 1500-meter final at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship, finishing in 4:12.10 and clocking her last 400 meters in 59.08. Longisa also announced that she will be transferring to lowa State and will continue to be under Harmon's leadership.

During the rest of her four years at Washington State, she helped revitalize the Washington State Cougar's cross country programs. During the 2025 season, she led the women to their first West Coast Conference Championship title, scoring a meet-low 38 points to take the win over Gonzaga. The Cougars' also clinched an appearance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the first time since 1985, finishing 27th as a team. Longisa also picked up the individual WCC crown as well as All-American honors on the grass, finishing 27th individually in Columbia, Missouri.

During the 2024 season, she helped her first individual qualifier for WSU, Zenah Cheptoo, to the NCAA Cross Country Championships who just missed All-American honors with a 47th-place finish in Madison, Wisconsin.

Prior to Washington State, she spent a year back at Jesuit High School in Sacramento, California, which has a rich history of distance running success on the national stage. She helped the girls finish sixth place at the Garmin Running Lane National Cross Country Championships in 2021.

Prior to that, she spent time at numerous colleges such as the University of Minnesota Duluth, Sierra College, Sacramento State, Oregon State and initally starting at Jesuit High School for the first four years of her career.

During her time as an athlete, she ran for the historic University of Oregon, where she was an All-American in cross country and a second-team All-American on the track, She finished 31st at the 2004 NCAA National Cross Country Championships, running 21:08 over 6.000 meters. Prior to that cross country season, she finished 18th over 5,000 meters at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, clocking a 17:18.41.

She completed her bachelor's degree in psychology from Oregon before later returning to school and getting her master's degree in kinesiology at Fresno Pacific University in 2018.

Harmon is a native of Vancouver, Washington and also ran at Jesuit High School.