University of Georgia Athletics
Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Track Coach | Director of External Operations
- Email:
- melia.cox1@uga.edu
Melia Cox was hired as an assistant coach for sprints and hurdles and the Bulldogs’ Director of External Operations during the 2025 summer. During her first academic year in 2025-26, Cox helped the crew coached by Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert to establish 12 improvements on the school’s all-time top 10 lists, including three school records. The Lady Bulldogs swept the 2026 NCAA indoor and outdoor team titles and the Georgia men finished as the runner-up at outdoor Nationals.
Outdoors, Lady Bulldog freshman Taylor Cox topped a nine-year-old school record in the 100-meter hurdles with a 12.81 at the SEC Championships for a silver medal. First or second-year hurdlers in the program also took over the No. 3, 4, 5 and 7 spots on UGA’s all-time list, all with sub-13 second finishes. Similar to the Georgia women’s performance in the 100m, three team members scored in the 100m hurdles at the SEC Championships with Cox earning the silver, sophomore Rylee Hampton surging to No. 4 in the school list with a fourth-place finish (12.92) and freshman Chelsi Williams taking seventh with a 12.99 after clocking a personal best 12.91 in the prelims. The same group of Lady Bulldogs shined in their first indoor season in the 60m hurdles as freshman Maddie Cooper posted an altitude adjusted 8.01 to take control of the No. 2 spot in the school record books, scored at the SEC meet and earned First Team All-America honors with a sixth-place finish (8.04).
Cox’s work with freshman Le’Ezra Brown on the men’s side also paid immediate dividends. Dropping the 110m hurdle school record to 13.22 at the home Spec Towns Invite, Brown totaled four race victories outdoors and advanced to the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Indoors, Brown flew to a school record 7.56 to take ninth in the 60m hurdle prelims of the NCAA meet to miss the final by one spot after scoring sixth in the country’s premier conference meet with a 7.64.
A Long Beach, Calif., native, Cox spent the 2024-25 academic year at Cal State Fullerton where she also coached the sprinters and hurdlers. Under her tutelage, the Titans went 1-2-3 in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2025 Big West Championships. Cox guided Abel Jordan (native of Spain) to under-23 records in both the 60m (6.54) and 60m hurdles (7.53). Jordan advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 60mH, making him the first Cal State Fullerton hurdler to accomplish the feat. In addition, Cox coached Joshua Hornsby to a trip to the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 110m hurdles, also a first for the Titans.
Cox, who was a 2016 Olympic Trials competitor, competed for USC’s track and field teams from 2011-15 where she competed at three separate NCAA Championships, earning All-American honors in the triple jump, 100m hurdles and 4x100m relay. Smith Gilbert coached Cox from 2013-16 in L.A. The 11-time Pac-12/MPSF scorer also captured the 2014 Pac-12 outdoor triple jump crown.
