Rachel Melum joined the University of South Alabama coaching staff in the fall of 2015 as a graduate assistant, and will help with Jaguar combined and jumping events.
She comes to USA from Minnesota, where she was a member of the Golden Gopher indoor and outdoor track and field teams for five years, serving as a team captain from 2012-15.
As a senior, Melum earned all-Big Ten Conference honors after finishing third in the javelin at the league outdoor championships; she qualified for the NCAA West Region Preliminary Round in the event, where she would come in 17th place. She earned five top-10 finishes in the javelin as a junior, including at the league meet, while in 2012 she won the discipline at the Hamline Invitational.
Melum also finished in the top 10 in the high jump on four occasions that spring — including a win at the Hamline Invite.
She competed in the high jump during the indoor campaign her first two years at UM as well, winning the MSU Open as a freshman while posting five top-10 results that winter.
Melum received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a nutrition minor from Minnesota in 2015, and is currently working on a master’s degree in sport management at USA.
