Coaching Highlights
• 1 NCAA silver medalist
• 5 All-America selections
• 5 NCAA qualifiers at Vanderbilt
• 1 SEC champion
• 1 SEC silver medalist
• 15 SEC scorers
• 2X USTFCCCA Virginia High School Girls Coach of the Year (2015, 2016)
• 3X VHSL Class 5A Girls Indoor Coach of the Year (2016-18)
• 3X VHSL Class 5A Girls Outdoor Coach of the Year (2016-18)
• 2015 Milestat Virginia High School Coach of the Year
Justin Byron is entering his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Vanderbilt women’s track and field program, working primarily with jumps and multi-event athletes. He also serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator and director of player development.
Achievements at Vanderbilt – Assistant Coach, Recruiting Coordinator and Director of Player Development (2021–present)
Under Byron’s direction, Commodore student-athletes broke two school records and registered 24 program all-time top 10 performances during the 2025 indoor and outdoor seasons. Vanderbilt’s multis, Devyn Parham and Marta Sivina scored indoors and outdoors at the SEC Championships. With his coaching, Sivina also broke the Latvian U23 national record in the 60-meter hurdles. Byron led 60- and 100-meter hurdles squads that ranked top 5 in the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings before both the indoor and outdoor conference championships. Falon Spearman broke school records in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles with Byron’s coaching. She advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100-meter hurdles. At the NCAA East First Round, four of four Commodores tutored by Byron advanced to the quarterfinals in the 100- and 400-meter hurdles.
Byron guided Lena Gooden, who scored at SECs and earned All-America honors in the long jump as a freshman. Three student-athletes he coached advanced to the NCAA East First Round with five qualifications. For the second year in a row, Byron guided the Commodore multis to two scoring performances at the SEC Championships, Madison Murray and Sivina each scored and PRed in the heptathlon. Over the course of the 2023-24 season, Murray improved her lifetime best high jump mark from 1.68 to 1.73 meters.
Indoors, three student-athletes Byron coached achieved long jump marks ranking in the program’s all-time top 10. Allyria McBride broke the 28-year-old long jump school record at the SEC Indoor Championships, scoring and placing seventh with a 6.13-meter mark.
During the 2023 season, student-athletes Byron coached broke five school records, and 21 of their performances ranked in the program’s all-time top 10. He guided Beatrice Juskeviciute to the SEC title in the heptathlon and a silver medal in the event at the NCAA Championships. She was the runner-up in the pentathlon at the indoor conference championships and finished sixth at nationals.
Under Byron’s direction, Brooke Overholt finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships, recording personal bests in the semifinals and final. Her time of 55.50 seconds is second in Vanderbilt history.
At the 2023 outdoor conference championships, all three Commodore heptathletes recorded scoring performances, and Overholt scored for Vanderbilt in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing fifth. Four student-athletes, coached by Byron, advanced to the NCAA East Regional in three events.
Prior to Vanderbilt
At Cornell – Associate Head Coach (2019–21)
The Prince George’s County, Maryland, native joined the Commodores after three years in the Ivy League with Cornell, most recently serving as associate head coach for the Big Red.
While in Ithaca, Byron coached a team that boasted two All-Americans, set five school records and achieved 19 spots on the school’s all-time top 10 lists. He coached Juskeviciute to the pentathlon conference title in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, she also won the heptathlon conference crown. With Byron’s tutelage, Overholt earned a bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2019 Ivy League Championships.
At Nansemond River High School – Head Coach (2012–18)
Before Cornell, Byron was the head coach of the Nansemond River High School track & field team in Suffolk, Virginia, where it captured 11 state titles, indoor and outdoor. From 2012 to 2018, Byron led 47 individuals and 15 relay teams to state championships, breaking 11 Virginia state records. On the national stage, prep student-athletes that Byron coached boasted six all-time top 10 marks, five national meet records and 14 national crowns.
In 2015, Byron was named the Milestat Virginia High School Coach of the Year. On three occasions (2016–18), he was named the Virginia High School League Girls Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year. Twice, he was tabbed as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Virginia High School Girls Coach of the Year (2015, 2016).
Contributions to the Community
In 2010, Byron founded 5 Star Track Program, a youth track and field club designed to promote academic and athletic success. In addition to claiming AAU National Club Championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014, the program implemented a college prep program that produced a 100 percent high school graduation rate, with more than 80 percent pursuing higher education. Of the athletes that were part of the year-round training program, 14 won high school state championships, four claimed high school national championships and one set a high school national record.
Byron also served as the executive director of the Athletic Bridge Experience, a nonprofit with a two-prong focus of helping student-athletes strive for academic and athletic excellence and increasing youth health and fitness for athletes and non-athletes in the community.
Personal
A five-time all-academic selection at North Carolina A&T, Byron was a seven-time conference champion and qualified for the NCAA Championships in the indoor and outdoor 200 and 400 meters.
He attended Oxon Hill High School in Maryland. In 2002, he placed in the state meet in the 200 and 400 meters and anchored his squad to a national indoor title in the 4×200-meter relay.
Byron obtained a master’s in recreation and sports science in 2014 from Ohio University. He graduated cum laude from North Carolina A&T with a bachelor’s in business finance.
Byron was born in Washington, D.C.; his parents are Cyril and Marsha Jones-Byron.
Coaching Experience
• Assistant Coach, Recruiting Coordinator and Director of Player Development, Vanderbilt (2021–present)
• Associate Head Coach, Cornell (2019–21)
• Assistant Coach, Cornell (2018–19)
• Head Coach, Nansemond River High School (2012–18)
• Assistant Coach, North Carolina A&T (2006–07)