Melissa Ferry

Coach Ferry begins her first season as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country and her fifth season as a collegiate head coach. The B. Reed Henderson High School graduate who was a 7-time PIAA state medalist, comes home to West Chester from Virginia Union University where she spent the last four years running that Division II Track & Field and Cross Country program.

In four years at Virginia Union, the Panthers' men qualified athletes for the USA Indoor National Championships and the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, collected a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Championship team title, earned 17 individual CIAA championships, earned an NCAA All-America award, collected 58 all-conference honors (41 individual, 6 relay, 11 cross country), a pair of CIAA Athlete of the Year honors, NCAA Atlantic Region Men's Indoor Athlete of the Year, 19 NCAA all-region plaudits, 26 NCAA Championship provisional qualifying marks and set 31 school records. The men's team reached the podium every season (XC/I/O) for 10 straight campaigns.

The women also churned out excellent performances, including seven school records across five different event specialties, a pair of NCAA Championship provisional qualifying marks and collected multiple All-CIAA honors, highlighted by Jamara Watson being ranked 25th nationally among all NCAA Division II hurdlers by DirectAthletics in the 60-meter hurdles that also set a new school record.

In October 2019, the men's cross country squad captured the CIAA Championship team title, individual title, and Athlete and Coach of the Year honors. Micah Kipruto captured four wins in five races for the individual title and AOY honors, with three teammates also earning CIAA all-conference.

In 2018, Virginia Union was represented at the USA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. in the men's 60-meter dash by Justin Hunter. Ed'Treon Wilcox was named USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, after being the first man to win both the 60m and 200m dashes at the CIAA Championships. He was the only individual in the Atlantic Region to be ranked No. 1 in two events, and his time in the 200m of 21.38 stands as the fastest time in school history. Additionally, Devin Simon was named the CIAA Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year just one year after walking-on to the program and lowering his high school best in the 400m by 56 seconds to 47.39.

Both the women's and men's programs received USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades from 2018 to 2021 and are eight-time recipients of the CIAA Highest GPA Award. In the fall of 2019, the men's CIAA champion cross country team was the only HBCU to be awarded USTFCCCA all-academic honors for cross country.

Coach Ferry, who holds certification in IAAF Elite Coach/USATF Level 3 – Sprints/Hurdles, Level 2 - Sprints/Hurdles/Relays, Level 2 – Youth Specialization, and has been a grant recipient to attend the USATF Podium Education Project in Las Vegas, serves on the USTFCCCA Executive Committee. She was elected the 2021 CIAA Coaches Association President as well as a USA Track & Field (USATF) Coach Education Instructor. She also serves on the USTFCCCA Women in Coaching Committee an dhelps run the USTFCCCA Female Coach Mentor Program.

She was honored in December 2018 with the USATF Terry Crawford/Distinguished Female in Coaching Award, selected for the 2019 US Emerging Elite Coaches Camp in Sprints and named the 2019 CIAA Men's Coach of the Year for cross country.

Currently, Coach Ferry is completing her doctorate in Health and Human Performance with a focus in Biomechanics from Concordia University–Chicago. Previously she completed a master's in Education from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012 and a bachelor's in Education from George Mason University in 2008. She spent seven years as a Health and Physical Education teacher for Fairfax Country Public Schools. Previously, she served on the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Coach Education Committee. She has twice presented at the US Coaches Conference, sponsored by the US Olympic Committee, NCAA, and NFHS, as well as at other national conferences on sport leadership, such as the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM), and the National Association for Women Athletic Administrators (NACWA).

As an athlete, Ferry qualified for the 2004 U.S. Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 800m, and co-captained NCAA Division I George Mason University's women's track & field program.