Kerem Ayhan

Biography

Karem Ayhan joined the Lehigh coaching staff in 2024 as a volunteer assistant coach with track and field and cross country. Ayhan was a member of the Mountain Hawks as an athlete starting in the 2019-2020 season, graduating in 2023 with a Bachelor’s Degree in architecture. He was a member of the 2022 Patriot League Indoor Champion distance medley relay team, and won three individual Patriot League 800 meter medals in the 2022 outdoor, 2023 indoor, and 2023 outdoor seasons. He was also a member of the 2023 Patriot League All-Academic team. He is Lehigh’s school record holder in the indoor 800m, indoor 1000m, and the indoor 4x800m relay. After Lehigh, he spent one year at Northeastern University earning a Graduate Study Focus in construction management. Competing there, he was the Coastal Athletic Association 2024 indoor 800m champion and outdoor 800m silver medalist. He was also a NCAA East Regional Qualifier Academic All-American that same year. On the club level, he is the indoor and outdoor 800 meter record holder for Garden State Track Club. Internationally, he holds the 600 meter Turkish national record at 1:15.68. Ayhan brings a professional-level understanding of middle-distance performance and integrates that experience into daily training expectations. His transition into coaching was driven by a desire to translate elite competitive experience into structured, individualized development for athletes. Having balanced Division I athletics with rigorous academics, he is