Northwestern State University of Louisiana Women's Track

Heimermans technical expertise and passion for coaching have been key attributes in his rise     in collegiate track and field coaching circles.It was no surprise that Mike Heimerman was voted womens Coach of the Year on the All-Louisiana Team in 2011, sharing the honor with LSUs Dennis Shaver. 

Miller helped mold the Demon and Lady Demon jumpers into a formidable force in the Southland Conference. Hes guided two NCAA All-Americans, 11 Southland Conference champions, seven SLC runner-ups, 10 third-place finishers and 28 All-SLC performers. The Southland Conference titles ended a 6-year drought in jumping event titles. During the past three seasons, no program has had more combined male and female jumps titles or total points in the league. He produced NSUs first Indoor All-American (in jumps or overall) in a decade with a fourth-place finish in the mens long jump (Emmanuel Williams) at the 2014 National Championships, before adding another Indoor All-American in 2015 in the triple jump (Aaron Williams). He has also coached 12 NCAA East Regional qualifiers, including eight in the triple jump and four in the long jump. Triple jumpers under Millers guidance have improved an average of 3 feet, 5.5 inches during their time with his program and an average of 1 foot, 6.5 inches in the long jump. These improvements helped NSU lead the country in 2013 in the mens triple jump as the only Division 1 program in the country with three male triple jumpers over the 50-foot barrier. This development also resulted in 59 individual top-10 finishes in SLC Championships, including 31 in the triple jump, in his three seasons.   Miller is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, and has obtained USATF Level 1 Certification. He also holds his USTFCCCA Jumps Specialist and Combined Events Specialist Certifications. Miller was invited among coaches nationwide to attend the USATF Emerging Elite Coaches Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, led by USATF jumps coach Jeremy Fischer. The 2015 season proved to be dominant for NSUs jumpers, both in national and conference standings. Indoors, Aaron Williams captured the SLC long & triple titles posting season bests of 24 7.5 and 52 4.5 respectively, while teammate ZhaQuan Porter finished third in the triple jump (49 1). Williams earned the honor of 2015 SLC Mens Indoor Field Events Athlete of the Year along with a trip to Indoor Nationals in the triple jump, where he finished 14th in the country as an All-American. Lawrence Wallace also performed big producing a third-place finish in the mens high jump. The Lady Demons also jumped well indoors, finishing first (Porsha Thomas) & third (Breann Denson) in the triple jump at the SLC Indoor Championships. In the 2015 outdoor season, with Aaron Williams and Porter redshirting, teammate Emmanuel Williams (who redshirted 14 Outdoor & 15 Indoor) picked up where his brother left off, winning the 2015 Southland Conference Mens Outdoor Outstanding Field Events Performer of the Year. Emmanuel won the long and triple jumps, posting season bests of 25 6.75 and 50 11. Thomas also won her fourth-straight triple jump title, posting a season best mark of 426.25 (ranked second all-time at NSU), while Denson finished second with a mark of 40 11.5 (ranked fifth all-time at NSU). Miller also successfully brought back the multi events to NSU, including guiding Tanner Owens to a sixth-place finish in the decathlon as a freshman, the first points scored for NSU in a decathlon in over 15 years. He also guided Aaron Williams to a 16-meter triple jump performance (52 6) while competing unattached. The 2014 season saw a resurgence in the Demon jump tradition with Emmanuel Williams securing First-Team All-American honors with a fourth-place finish at the Indoor National Championships. He was also the first Demon since USA Olympian Kenta Bell in 1998 and 2000 to pull off the long and triple jump double at the Southland Indoors, posting marks of 25 7.25 (best mark in the SLC indoors since 1991) and 50 4.75 respectively. NSU also had its first mens and womens double triple jump conference champions since 2000, repeating again in the 2015 indoor and outdoor seasons. High jumper Quinton Helaire also contributed, finishing third with a 6 8 clearance. Lady Demon Porsha Thomas won the SLC indoor title in the triple jump with teammate Taylor Walker finishing second. The 2014 outdoor season saw a season-best mark in the womens long jump by Kenyah McDaniels with a jump of 20 5.25 (ranked second all-time at NSU). Miller also guided the Demons and Lady Demons to three podium finishes at the conference championships, including the mens long (third) and triple jumps (second), and the womens triple jump title (first).   The 2013 campaign was NSUs first full season with Miller at the helm. Indoors saw multiple All-SLC performances, including the first jumping event title in over six years. He guided Jerrica Tillery to the gold in the triple jump with a mark of 40 2.25, along with a podium finish in the high jump (third). Emmanuel Williams finished third in the mens long jump (24 1) with teammate Reginald Douglas placing second in the mens triple jump (50 11). In the outdoor campaign, the jumps group enjoyed continued success, tallying five medals and dominating the horizontal jumps. The Lady Demons finished second (Sarah Jones) and third (Porsha Thomas) in the long jump. In the triple jump, the women finished in the second (Tillery), third (Jones), and fifth (Thomas). The men also experienced success with third-place (Aaron Williams), fifth-place (Emmanuel Williams), and seventh-place (Porter) showings. Additionally, Miller has coached eight Athletes to the All-Louisiana Collegiate Track & Field Team, voted on by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, along with 10 Southland Conference Athlete of the Week honors. Miller relentlessly recruits local Louisiana talent, athletes from Texas, other regional states, and junior colleges across the country. His focus is improving the depth and quality of the jumps program, while also recruiting and developing the combined events. Prior to joining the Northwestern State staff, Miller was the head track and field and cross country coach at San Antonio Christian Middle School from 2008-2010. During his time with the Lions, Miller coached his teams to three Independent Schools Athletic League Track and Field Championships in girls and boys 6th-8th grade divisions and one boys ISAL Cross-Country Championship in 2010. His student-athletes registered 73 podium finishes, including 24 event titles, at ISAL Championships and set 21 new records in three seasons.   A 2011 graduate of Texas-San Antonio, Miller received his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. Miller is married to Kyle Zambrana of San Antonio. She is a physical education teacher at Lakeview High School. They are expecting their first child this December.  Wesley Miller

Pennington was promoted to associate head coach in August of 2016.     The former decathlete has had a major impact on NSU sprints in his first season, including guiding the 4X100 to NCAA All-American status, the womens Southland Conference Track athlete of the year (Jermeka McBride) and the mens SLC Newcomer of the year (George Flaviano).     The sprints success continued at the SLC championship meet, leading nine conference champions and 12 all-conference performers in 2016.     NSU swept gold in the SLC mens and womens 100 and 200 meters, including capturing seven of the 18 total medals awarded at the championship meet.     The sprints played their part in a runner-up finish for the women and a third-place finish for the men. McBride (ran in the Bahamian Olympic Trials) and Amir James broke NSU records in the 200 and 60 meters, respectively, under Penningtons watch.     Other accomplishments under Pennington include five All-Louisiana performers, four SLC weekly honors and 10 top-five performances in NSU history.        Pennington is a former Northwestern State competitor who has quickly developed into a well-regarded coach and recruiter on the college level.      Hes a USATF Level 1 certified and USTFCCCA Strength and Conditioning certified coach and will lead the mens and womens sprints, relays, hurdles, and pole vault for the NSU program.   Adam is a very hard worker, loves to recruit and thrives on the long hours. He is very knowledgeable, said NSU head coach Mike Heimerman. He is constantly trying to educate himself in our sport and be at the forefront of teaching and coaching technique. He brings all the characteristics I was looking for when searching for a coach.      Pennington, a Marksville High School graduate, coached at his high school alma mater from 2009-13 and had significant impact as an assistant coach at McNeese State as an assistant coach in 2014-15. He was selected after the 2015 season to attend an Emerging Elite Coaches Camp in Chula Vista, Calif., at the USA Olympic training center.      He also had success as a personal coach for high school athletes in Louisiana and Texas. In that capacity, athletes he coached included 61 state qualifiers, 13 state champions, 35 medalists, one state class record holder, and a USA Track and Field Junior national champion.      Coaching at Marksville, Pennington helped shape five district championship teams and two nationally ranked high jumpers, along with a nationally-ranked hurdler.      He coached five NCAA East Regional qualifiers in two seasons at McNeese, including the top-ranked Southland Conference 2014 womens pole vaulter Nicole Casper.          In 2015, Pennington took over coaching all of McNeeses jumps events and the vault, and developed eight Southland medalists, including Southland Indoor womens long jump champion Simone Johnson, among 25 athletes who posted top 10-ranked conference performances. Eleven of his competitors earned conference academic honors while four of his athletes made the All-Louisiana track and field team by posting one of the best three performances in the state in their specialties.      Penningtons male athletes scored almost half of the McNeese total at the 2015 Southland indoors, and 22 of 54 points at the conference outdoors. The points scored at the Southland Outdoors by his competitors were the most by McNeese jumpers in the last decade.      As an athlete himself, Pennington was a decathlete at Cowley Community College in Arkansas City, Kan., from 2005-07, where his team was twice third at NJCAA National Championships.  Pennington was a national qualifier in the decathlon in 2007 and helped his teams win conference and regional championships.      Pennington competed for NSU in 2008, and later graduated from LSU Alexandria with a general studies-kinesiology degree.