Gustavus Adolphus College

Nathan Harder is in his seventh season as a member of the Gustavus track & field coaching staff in the 2024-25 academic year. 

Harder joined the program in the fall of 2018 as a graduate assistant and has since helped coach the women's team to its first two MIAC Outdoor Championships in 2022 and 2023. 

In 2024, the track & field season was highlighted by the performances of juniors Megan Geraets and Kate Carlson who competed at both indoor and outdoor NCAA championships, each earning their own All-America honors. Geraets became only the third athlete in school history to achieve All-America honors in a running event during the indoor season and became the fastest 200-meter and 400-meter runner in the history of the MIAC.

In the indoor season, the women took third and the men fifth, claiming a total of five championships and 12 All-Conference honors. The women came up just short to their three-peat MIAC title, taking second by a margin of just 6.17 points. The men took seventh at the outdoor meet, and the two teams collected seven championships and 23 All-MIAC performances. 

Since the start of his Gustavus career, Harder has developed two national champions in hurdle events - his specialty - between Birgen Nelson '23 and Taylor Rooney '21.

Nelson won three national titles, two in the outdoor 100-hurdles and one in the 60-hurdles. She graduated as the most decorated Gustavus women's track athlete in program history, accumulating a laundry list of school, program, facility, conference, and NCAA records and accolades.

Taylor Rooney became the first men's outdoor national champion in 11 years for the Gusties and just the third overall after winning the 110-hurdles. He set the NCAA DIII meet record in the event, and claimed a number of program and MIAC records in his career.

Harder, a 2014 graduate of University of Minnesota-Morris, was a conference champion on the track in the 60-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, and the 4x200 relay.

After graduating from UM-Morris, Harder worked in the carpentry industry while at the same time coaching track athletes in the Longville/Remer area where he attended high school. In 2016, Harder accepted an assistant track & field coaching postion at Lawrence University (Wis.). At Lawrence, Harder focused his coaching mainly on the hurdles, sprinters, and the high jumpers. He continues to work with these athletes specifically while at Gustavus.

Harder lives in Saint Peter with his girlfriend, Taylor.