Grant Kelam
Grant Kelam
Title: Head Coach
Phone: 919-299-4934
Email: gkelam@umo.edu

Grant Kelam was named as the first-ever head coach of the University of Mount Olive women's lacrosse program when the sport was added in December 2011.

The Trojans finished the regular season 14-5 and 9-1 for a second place rank in the conference standings. Kelam's squad claimed seven spots on the Conference Carolinas All-Conference teams and two of the top individual awards as Jordan Shughrue took home Freshman of the Year and Sadie Michael the Conference Defensive Player of the Year. UMO's season was highlighted with the first ever program win over Queens College.

In 2017 the Trojans were the Conference Carolinas tournament runners-up after falling to Limestone in the championship game. Mount Olive went 12-7 overall with a 9-1 conference mark to finish as the regular season champions. Hailey Dobbins garnered Defensive Player of the Year, while teammate Jackie Kaderabek was named the Freshman of the Year for the Trojans. In addition, Mount Olive placed eight student-athletes on the all-conference teams. 

Kelam lead the Trojans to a 13-6 record, a national ranking, and an appearance in the Conference Carolinas Women's Lacrosse Tournament final in the 2016 season. Under Kelam's direction, Claire Wigler became the first Trojan in program history to earn Conference Carolinas Offensive Player of the Year and All-America honors.

In just the third year of the program, Kelam guided Mount Olive to a 13-3 record, a national top 10 ranking, and the 2015 Conference Carolinas Women's Lacrosse Championship. The Trojans posted a 7-6 double-overtime victory at top-seeded and nationally 10th-ranked Limestone.

Mount Olive was ranked No. 9 in the year-end Nike/LaxMagazine Division II Women's Lacrosse Top 20.

The Trojans have consistently ranked among the nation's team and individual statistics leaders each year. In 2015, Mount Olive compiled the third best scoring defense and the 12th best scoring offense in the nation, scoring an average of 14.44 goals per game while allowing only 5.44 goals per contest.

Under Kelam, the Trojan women's lacrosse program has produced a winning record in each of its first four years. Mount Olive has a four-year record of 49-23 for a .681 winning percentage.

In Kelam's first year, Mount Olive posted a 9-8 record in 2013, the best record in the nation that year among NCAA Division II first-year women's lacrosse programs and the seventh best in NCAA II history for a first-year women's lacrosse program since the sport became an NCAA championship sport in 2001.

Kelam came to Mount Olive from Tennessee Wesleyan College, where he spent the previous two years as head women’s lacrosse coach. Kelam took over a program that had gone winless the year before his arrival and led the team to a National Women’s Lacrosse League (NWLL) championship in his second year. Tennessee Wesleyan posted an 11-5 overall record and a 5-0 conference mark in 2011 after a 5-9 record the previous year.

Kelam also has international experience, having served as an assistant coach with the Denmark National Lacrosse Team. Kelam was a member of Denmark’s coaching staff during the 2010 FIL World Lacrosse Championship in Manchester, England.

Kelam earned his B.S. in sports management from Lindenwood University (Mo.) and his MBA from Missouri Baptist University, where he served as a graduate assistant coach for the men’s lacrosse team.

Year-By-Year Record

Year Overall Conference National Ranking Conference Finish
2018 14-5 9-1    
2017 12-7 9-1   Tournament Runner-Up
2016 13-6 7-1 No. 18 Tournament Runner-Up
2015 15-3 7-1 No. 9 Tournament Champion
2014 12-6 4-2    
2013 9-8 2-5    
Total 75-35 38-11    

Updated July 19, 2018