Coppin State University Women's Cross Country

Shields-Gadson is the Deputy Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator as she enters her 10th season as the womens cross country and track and field coach at Coppin State.    Shields-Gadson has enhanced her reputation as one of the nations top track and field coaches as evidenced by having student-athletes compete internationally at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and Pan-Am Games. She also coached Christina Epps to the 2015 USTFA national triple jump championship.   In addition, Coppin State has had student-athletes compete at the NCAA Championships in consecutive years under Shields-Gadsons direction: Deandra Daniel (2015) and Christina Epps (2014). Both student-athletes earned All-America honors and are Coppin State indoor and outdoor record holders in their respective field events. Epps was named the MEAC Woman of the Year in 2014.   Under Shields-Gadsons direction, the Eagles have become one of the best programs in the MEAC most notable in the field events.   In addition to her duties at Coppin State, Shields-Gadson also served as the past chair of the NCAA Division I Mens and Womens Track and Field Committee, NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committees. Administratively at Coppin State, she is the chief of staff for athletics and has direct oversight of budget, facilities/events and athletic communication departments. Shields-Gadson has overseen Coppin State successfully hosting the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference volleyball tournament for eight consecutive years from 2007-2014. Shields-Gadson joined the Coppin State staff after serving 10 years at Alcorn State where she served as the associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator as well as head coach of the Braves mens and womens cross country and track and field teams. In 1998, Shields-Gadson was one of six participants selected for the NCAA Fellows Leadership Development Program. The New Orleans native received her bachelors degree in English/communications from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., in 1992 and her masters degrees in athletic administration and secondary education/physical education from Alcorn State in 1995. She currently is a doctoral candidate. At Southern, she was a three-time SWAC MVP on the track and won conference championships in the triple jump (3 times) and the long jump (2 times) following a stellar career at Eleanor McMain High School, where she earned All-America honors. She also lettered in volleyball, basketball, softball, swimming and tennis at McMain. 

Lawrence Givens has served as an assistant coach, working primarily with the jumpers, with the Coppin State track & field team since 2000.  He assisted with both men’s & women’s programs until they were split in 2002, and he regained management of the women’s jumpers in 2018.   In over 20 seasons as an assistant, Givens has helped five different Eagles win six MEAC titles across the horizontal and vertical jumps. Over 20 athletes have earned All-Conference honors with nine advancing to NCAA Regionals and one receiving All-America accolades.   Additionally, Givens has guided eight of the top ten men’s high jumpers and long jumpers and four of the top six triple jumpers.  His jumpers have gone on to break the school record in all three events.    Helping Terrence Brown (2004) and Ian Lovergie (2007) to silver medal performances in the high jump at the MEAC Championships, Givens saw Brandon Miles, the program’s first NCAA qualifier in the jumps, win the MEAC Title in the long jump indoors in 2010. The following season, Brandon Baskerville, the program’s only 7-foot-high jumper, took the crown indoors in 2011.    Three years later, Shane Green, the CSU record holder in the triple jump, won the event at the Indoor Championship before school-record holder Jeff Hammond took the long jump indoors in both 2022 and 2024.  Green reached the NCAA East Prelims in all four of his seasons, earning All-America honors in 2016 while also heading to Regionals in the long jump in 2014.   Hammond and James Bell, the 2024 MEAC Champion in the high jump, both qualified for the NCAA East Prelims in 2023.   Givens is a 1993 graduate of The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore with a degree in General Studies – Construction Management and excelled in the high jump where he was the 1990 MEAC Indoor & Outdoor champion.   Givens has a high jump personal best of 2.16m (7’ 1”). He is a native of Baltimore, Md. where he attended Northwestern High School and graduated in 1988.

One of the most decorated athletes in Coppin State history, Jamie Wilson began his coaching career at his alma mater as its sprints coach for the men’s track & field program in 2011 before returning for a second stint in 2015. He began managing the women’s sprinters as well when the teams were unified again in 2018.   Since 2018, Coppin’s sprinters, under Wilson’s tutelage, have enjoyed unprecedented success with 21 All-Americans during that time.  Wilson received much acclaim with his pupil, Joseph Amoah earning seven USTFCCCA All-America nods before competing for Ghana at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 200m and helping the 4x100m Relay reach the final.  Joseph Manu was also a five-time All-American and joined Amoah on Ghana’s relay.   On the women’s side, Latifa Ali broke all school-records from the 60m to 400m dash and was part of both record relays.  She went on to win four MEAC titles and qualify for NCAA Regional competition in 2022 in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m, as well as the 400m in 2023. Halutie Hor (100m) and Nackera Allen (200m) broke her records in 2024 and also advanced to NCAA Regionals.   During his tenure, over 100 Eagles sprinters across both men’s & women’s programs have gone on to earn All-MEAC honors with over 30 conference champions across various sprint events and relays. Men’s school-records have been set in the 60m, 60m hurdles, 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x400m relays while women’s records have fallen in the 60m, 100m, 200m, 400m and both relays.   A 2012 graduate with a degree in sport management and marketing, Wilson was a member of the second-fastest indoor 4x400m relay team in program history and helped that relay qualify for the 2009 and 2010 NCAA East Prelims. Wilson helped the Eagles’ 4x400m earn All-Conference honors in both 2010 seasons, set a school-record outdoors, and ran the third-fastest 200m dash time in school history upon graduation.   Also, a standout in the classroom, Wilson, a USATF Level 1 Coach, was a two-time USTFCCCA Academic All-American.