Jerod Wims is in his first season as the assistant coach of Men's & Women's Track & Field/Cross Country at The University of Central Arkansas.
Wims comes to UCA after spending the past two years at SC State, and the previous five years at the helm of the Mercer University Women's Track and Field and M/W Cross Country programs.
He brings an impressive tradition of winning to the program, with 11 top-three Southern Conference finishers for the track & field and cross country programs in the first three seasons of his tenure at Mercer, developing the program into one of the top sprint groups in the conference.
In 2018, he led Mercer's men's cross country team to a seventh-place conference finish, its highest team finish since joining the SoCon. Freshman Rob Zell earned SoCon All-Freshman honors on the men's side and was accompanied by Hannah Corson, who earned All-Freshman team honors on the women's side after finishing as one of the top rookies in the league.
On the track, the 2019 spring outdoor season included seven top-three finishers at the SoCon Championships, eight new school records, wins in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays and a sixth-place finish with a total of 70 points (most in program history) at the SoCon Championships. Mercer's 4x100 meter relay team also recorded the second-fastest time in the state of Georgia for the 2019 season (45.71 seconds). Additionally, the 4x100 meter relay team ranked 32nd in the NCAA East Region, falling just six spots shy of securing a spot at the NCAA East region preliminaries.
Wims' leadership produced Mercer's first SoCon medalist in 2017, as Ciarra Edwards earned a silver medal in the Javelin throw (38.94 meters) and fell just two meters shy of a school record. Eight school records fell in 2017, five of which were held by 2019 graduate Madison Mueller.
A native of Miami, Fla., Wims previously served as the head coach for track & cross country at Windsor Academy High School and as a Fire Sergeant for the City of Perry (Ga.) prior to Mercer.
He is a graduate of Auburn University, where he earned a degree in Criminology in 2009. On the tail end of achieving NCAA All-American status (at Auburn) in 2009, he immediately pursued a post-collegiate professional track and field career, having success in overseas competition.
Wims transferred to Auburn from Florida International University as one of the top 100m/200m sprinters in the Sunbelt Conference. While at FIU, Wims contributed to a 4x100 meter relay that broke seven straight records and qualified for the NCAA Championship as the number three team in the entire east region. In addition, he twice achieved USA Junior All-American status by finishing top five at USA trials in 2005 in the 100 meters and seventh in the 200-meter races, qualifying for the Pan Am games in Ontario, Canada.
Wims has a USATF Level 1 coaching certification.
