Jenna Wrieden is entering her fifth year as head women's cross country coach and seventh year overall with the Purple & White. A two-time Big South Cross Country Coach of the Year pick, she’s led the Panthers to three Big South cross country titles in the past five years (2011, 2014, 2015) while mentoring 13 all-Big South cross country runners during her tenure. Also an assistant coach in track & field, Wrieden joined the Panthers in 2010 after working at Queens University of Charlotte, Arizona State and Appalachian State.
Under Wrieden’s tutelage, the Panthers have won back-to-back Big South cross country titles (2014, 2015) and garnered six all-conference nominations during that span.Â
Wrieden and the Panthers have carried the championship momentum into track & field season, where HPU has reached new heights over the past two seasons. In 2015, the Purple & White swept the podium in the 3000m steeplechase at the Big South Outdoor Championship held at Vert Stadium. Ocasio won her first Big South individual title to lead the way.
Then, in 2016, Ocasio repeated, becoming the only runner in league history to win back-to-back steeplechase titles. She also set a new school record in the event at the Virginia Challenge (10:29.27) and advanced to the NCAA preliminary round for the first time in her career.
In addition, Cozette Collin broke out in a big way at the Big South Championship in 2016. Collin won the 1500m run in a meet record time of 4:27 while also garnering all-conference honors in the 5000m run. Collin finished fourth in the 800-meter in a PR of 2:11. Collin and Ocasio helped the Panthers set a new school record for points in a Big South meet (120.5), marking the first time since 2003 HPU broke the 100-point plateau. The Panthers scored in each distance event at the meet.
Two of Wrieden’s distance runners have set new HPU school records over the past two years. Leah Anne Wirfel broke a pair of HPU top times in 2014-15 (Indoor 5000m, 17:25.44; Outdoor 5000m, 17:06.27), while Ocasio broke the steeple record in 2014-15 (10:36.64), then topped her own time in 2015-16 (10:29.27).
Earlier in her High Point career, Wrieden played an instrumental role in HPU’s 2011 cross country title, when the team placed an impressive five runners in the top 10 to win the title. The Panthers totaled just 33 points, 23 ahead of two-time defending champ Liberty. Sophomores Kayleigh Perry and Audrey Malloy finished third and fifth, respectively, to lead five all-conference selections. Perry also captured all-conference honors in 2012 and 2013 while Kelsey Hunt garnered the accolade in 2012.
Wrieden’s program also has excelled in the classroom during her six years with the Purple & White. Women’s cross country and women’s track & field earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards in 2015, which are given to NCAA athletics programs that post a single-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) that rank in the top 10 percent of their sports. The Panthers garnered that recognition again in 2016.
Both programs led the Big South in APR scores in 2015 and 2016 and posted a perfect four-year score in each campaign. HPU women’s track & field also has garnered All-Academic Team USTFCCCA honors on multiple occasions during Wrieden’s career.
In addition to her work with HPU’s outstanding student-athletes, Wrieden also has helped coordinate the program’s renowned VertKlasse Meeting each April. In 2015, the meet was the largest home event on campus and included the largest alumni reunion in track and field history.
Before coming to HPU, Wrieden served as assistant coach at Queens University, helping guide the women's cross country team to its first-ever Div. II NCAA Championship appearance and the men's cross country team to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championship in 2009. She contributed to the coaching of 10 All-American performances, including NCAA champions Tanya Zeferjahn (10,000-meter) and Michael Crouch (5,000-meter). Wrieden also had recruiting responsibilities and coached multiple event groups.
Prior to Queens, Wrieden spent a year as graduate assistant coach at her alma mater, Arizona State. One of the top track & field programs in the country, Arizona State's men's and women's teams both placed fifth at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championship and the women placed third and the men placed eighth at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championship. Wrieden worked with individual student-athletes, developed strength training drills and routines and provided nutritional education. She also assisted in organizational and administrative areas.
As a student-athlete, Wrieden competed for a Sun Devils cross country squad that placed 14th at the NCAA Championship in 2003. Arizona State was runner-up at the Pac-10 Championship all four years that Wrieden was there. In track & field, Wrieden competed three seasons and ran in the Pac-10 Championship twice. She earned six Pac-10 academic awards.
Wrieden attended graduate school at Appalachian State, competing for the Mountaineers during the 2006-07 season before serving as assistant coach in 2007-08. In cross country, Wrieden posted an All-Region finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional in 2006 and was runner-up at the Southern Conference Championship. She posted times that ranked in the top-five all-time in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000-meter and the outdoor 5,000-meter and steeplechase at Appalachian State.
Wrieden was assistant coach of the highly-successful men's and women's programs at Appalachian State in 2007-08. She also interned with the elite training program ZAP Fitness in 2006 and 2007. HPU graduates Jesse Cherry and Cole Atkins both trained as professional runners at ZAP Fitness.
Wrieden earned her bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from Arizona State in 2006 and earned her master's degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in strength and conditioning from Appalachian State in 2008. She is certified as a USATF Level 1 Coach and also is USTFCCCA Track and Field Academy Strength and Conditioning certified.
