Eddie Williams '83 enters his fourth season as the head women's track and field coach at VMI following his hire in August of 2021.
Coach Williams' accomplishments during the 2024 indoor and outdoor seasons include:
Shea Hart
- Broke school heptathlon record (4418 points - SoCon Outdoor Championships) for fifth place at the meet
Alina LaForest
-Qualified for the 400m hurdles finals and came in seventh place overall in 1:04.95 at the SoCon Championships
-Placed fifth in the 400m hurdles prelims at the SoCon meet in 1:04.50 - a new school record
Xander Topos
-Helped 4x400 relay team to All-SoCon honors by placing third in 3:19.57 at the SoCon Indoor Championships
-Earned All-SoCon in the 110m hurdles by placing third at the SoCon Championships and achieved All-SoCon honors in the 400m hurdles by placing third in 55.73 seconds
-Helped 4x400 relay to All-SoCon honors with a third-place finish
Liam McBride
-Reset the school record in the 60m hurdles three times over the indoor season with a new PR time of 7.96 seconds to earn All-SoCon honors at the league meet
-Earned All-SoCon in the 110m hurdles by placing second at the SoCon Championships
Se'More Green
-Helped 4x100 relay squad to place third in 47.04 seconds for All-SoCon honors at the league meet
Heaven Hall
-Ran a leg of the 4x100 relay squad to place third in 47.04 seconds for All-SoCon honors at the league meet
Richard Edwards
-Earned All-SoCon by placing third in the 400m with a new PR time of 48.21 seconds at the SoCon Indoor Championships
-Helped 4x400 relay team to All-SoCon honors by placing third in 3:19.57 at the league indoor meet
-Helped the 4x400 relay team to All-SoCon honors with a third-place finish at the SoCon Outdoor Championships
Nick Brown
-Earned All-SoCon by placing second in the 400m with a PR time of 47.74 seconds at the SoCon Indoor Championships, where he also helped the 4x400 relay team to All-SoCon honors
-Achieved All-SoCon honors in the 400m finals in 47.17 seconds for second place at the SoCon Outdoor Championships, where he also helped the 4x400 relay to All-SoCon honors
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During the 2022 indoor season, he coached senior Ingrid Joseph to an eighth-place mark in the 60m and fifth place in the 200m at the SoCon Championships. He also guided freshman Eleyah Armstrong to fifth place in the 60m and fourth in the long jump. Both finished with a time of 7.73 seconds in the 60m, which is sixth-best all-time at VMI, and Armstrong’s distance of 18’9.25” in the long jump ranked second on VMI’s all-time list.
The women’s 4x400 relay squad of Marissa Linkous, Ingrid Joseph, Ahliyah Williams and Gretal Shank finished fifth at the SoCon Championships with a time of 4:02.07, sixth all-time at VMI. Freshman Yvonnia Perrello earned a score of 2337 points in the pentathlon at the SoCon meet, which ranks ninth all-time for the program.
During the 2022 outdoor season, Armstrong finished second in the 100m for All-Conference honors at the SoCon Championships. Her time of 11.83 for the event ranks second all-time at VMI. She also finished the 200m in 25.30 at the event, which ranks sixth all-time for the program. Perrello and freshman Julie Freitas achieved long jump performances that ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, on the all-time list for the event.
Over a 25-year high school coaching career, Williams led indoor and outdoor teams of both male and female athletes to multiple state championships at Bethel High School (Hampton, Va.). Named the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NSAF) USA National Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2006, he has coached his teams to 22 girls indoor and outdoor district/conference championships and nine boys indoor and outdoor district/conference championships.Williams has led his squads to 13 girls indoor/outdoor state championships and three boys indoor/outdoor state championships as well as 14 girls indoor/outdoor regional championships and two boys indoor/outdoor regional championships.
Since his graduation from VMI in 1988, Williams was employed by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News, Virginia, as an electrical procedure writer and nuclear test engineer. Over this period, he served in multiple capacities including as an A4W electrical procedure writer (2020-21), a Navy Nuclear Test Engineer (NNTE) Supervisor (2013-20), and an electrical test supervisor of the CVN65 aircraft carrier (2001-13).
A former collegiate athlete himself, Williams was a four-year letter winner on the track and field team at VMI from 1980-83 and helped the team to Southern Conference indoor and outdoor titles from 1981-83. He was named a team captain for the 1983 season and went on to earn All-SoCon honors as a sprinter that year.
Williams earned his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from VMI in 1988 and later earned a master's degree in management from Cambridge College in 2006.
