Southern Wesleyan Names Alumnus Shelton as New Track & Field and Cross Country Head Coach
Jul 21, 2025 | Athletics
Central, SC – Southern Wesleyan is excited to announce Peyton Shelton as the Head Coach of the Cross Country and Track & Field programs for the Warriors. An alumni of both the Cross Country and Track & Field programs, Shelton becomes the fourth head coach of the programs since the transition to NCAA Division II.
"I am thrilled to welcome Coach Peyton Shelton back home to Southern Wesleyan University,” commented Julia Reininga, VP for Intercollegiate Athletics at Southern Wesleyan. “Throughout this process, I have been incredibly impressed not only by his accomplishments as a coach, but also by his unwavering commitment as a follower of Christ. His passion for developing student-athletes both on and off the track is inspiring. It’s even more special to welcome both Peyton and his wife Taylor—who also competed for SWU—back to the place where their journey began. I am confident that God has brought them here for such a time as this, and I am excited for the future of our Track & Field and Cross Country programs under Coach Shelton’s leadership."
Peyton Shelton will join the Warriors after beginning his coaching career at Spartanburg Methodist in 2022 as the assistant coach of the Cross Country and Track & Field programs. During that season, he helped guide the team to both the Men’s and Women’s XC NJCAA Region 10 Championship title. Prior to the 2023 season, he was named the head coach of the program and helped both the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country programs retain their NJCAA Region 10 Championship titles. His achievements in the 2023 season allowed him to earn both the Men’s and Women’s Region 10 Coach of the Year honors. On the men’s side, he had all top five runners earn All-Region honors while the women had four All-Region selections. The Men’s Cross Country program concluded the 2023 season by being ranked 28th in the country while the Women’s Cross Country program finished with a 24th place ranking in the country.
In 2024, the Women’s Cross Country program continued to impress as they were named the XC Runner-Ups in the Continental Athletic Conference Championship. The women’s team were led by four all-conference individual finishes at the championship. In the same season, the Men’s Cross Country team was able to finish third at the conference championship.
The Men’s Track & Field team’s success during the 2025 season allowed them to be named the Runner-Ups in the Continental Athletic Conference Championship. In the same year, the Women’s Track & Field program were named the Continental Athletic Conference Champions while also setting a school record in overall team score gained as they collected 162 points at the championship. With the record setting championship title gained, Shelton was named the 2025 Continental Athletic Conference Women’s Track & Field Coach of the Year.
Shelton has coached two NJCAA Region 10 Individual Champions as in 2023 both Sophia Outhous and Luke Kochanowicz each received honors. He has also coached a Continental Athletic Conference Runner of the Year (Sophia Outhous) and both Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Athletes of the Year (Outhous and Parker Balog). Under his guidance, he had three athletes (Outhous, Audrey Noel and Averi Vance) qualify for the 2024 Women’s XC NAIA Nationals in the programs first year of NAIA participation. He also coached a Track & Field NAIA National Championship Qualifier in Romeo Brown who qualified in both the 100m and 200m dash. Under his guidance, the Pioneers were able to set numerous new school records in multiple Track & Field events including the 60mh, 100mh, 600m, mile, and 400mh.
Prior to joining the Spartanburg Methodist staff, he served as an assistant coach at Liberty High School during the spring of 2022. Shelton ran both Cross Country and Track & Field for Southern Wesleyan in college. During his collegiate career he received Cross Country All-Conference honors in 2018 and set six school records at Southern Wesleyan during his career between the indoor 3000 meters and 10,000 meter run. He graduated from Southern Wesleyan in 2022 with Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science.
“SWU has always been my home away from home and I cannot wait to be back,” mentioned Shelton. “This program has a history rich in tradition that I am so excited to be a part of once again. I am thankful that Julia Reininga and the hiring committee believe in me to grow the program back towards what it was during my time here as an athlete. God has something special in store for this team and this school, and I am prayerful and hopeful that He will use me in a special way as I return to the team. Go Warriors!”
Peyton Shelton is married to Taylor (Broadwell), who also ran Cross Country and Track and Field for the Warriors.