… only second black head coach in NCAA Big East conference

GUYANA’S Aliann Pompey has been named St John’s Track & Field and Cross Country head coach. The announcement was made yesterday by NCAA Division One School’s Director of Athletic Mike Cragg. Pompey has been at St John’s since the fall of 2014 and most recently served as the programme’s Associate head coach for the 2020-21 academic year. She will take over from her former boss and mentor, Jim Hurt, who retired last month after four decades with the Red Storm.
“I want to thank Mike Cragg for his vote of confidence and his support in appointing me as the head coach,” said Pompey. “It is with great honour that I accept this position. I have seen the growth and successes of this team over the years – from a distance when I was in college, and intimately over the last seven years.
“I want to continue the tradition of excellence for which we’ve become known. I thank coach Hurt for his guidance and patience while I found my coaching voice and Kathy Meehan, whose leadership has served as a model for me.”

Pompey said she’s “excited to continue working with our returning student-athletes who have committed to making our team better. Joined by the incoming class, we’ll strive to be impactful not just with the BIG EAST, but nationally.” Currently Avon Samuels and Onnasha Rogers are the only two Guyanese athletes at St John’s University.
Pompey, who won gold (2002 Manchester) and silver (2010 India) for Guyana at the Commonwealth Games, will become only the second black female head coach in the ‘Big East Conference (Georgetown women’s basketball coach is the other). Tasked with guiding the Red Storm’s sprinters and hurdlers during her time on Hurt’s staff, Pompey has seen St John’s student-athletes rewrite the record books during her tenure in Queens. She added: “I am very pleased and proud to see coach Pompey become our next head coach,” said Hurt. “She is exceptionally qualified to lead the programme to new heights. It’s been my fortune to work with Aliann these past seven years and her record of accomplishments has been outstanding.
“She is a person of character and always has her athletes’ best interest at heart. I look forward to following all the great things she will accomplish in pushing the programme forward in the years ahead.”

Pompey’s pupils own school indoor records in the 60-metre hurdles, the 200 and 400 metres, the 500 metres and the 2×200-metre relay.
They also set the programme’s second fastest time in the 4×400-metre relay. In outdoor competition, Pompey’s athletes hold school marks in the 100 metre hurdles, 800 metres and 4×100-metre relay. “During my tenure at St John’s, coach Pompey has demonstrated time and time again that she has what it takes to lead a high-calibre programme of her own,” said Cragg.
“In addition to being an outstanding athlete in her own right with national championship pedigree, she has shown that she possesses the rare ability to elevate the talents of the athletes she mentors and help them reach their full potential. I have the utmost confidence that she will continue to help the track & field programme reach new heights as its head coach.”
With Pompey on staff, the Red Storm has sent 18 athletes to NCAA competition. Pompey has also been active on the administrative side of the sport, serving as the president of the Panam Sports Athlete Commission beginning in 2019.

In that role, she was elected to represent more than 6 600 athletes across 41 countries that compete in the Pan American Games. Prior to taking over as president, Pompey served as a member of the Athletes’ Commission for four years. She is also a member of the organisation’s executive board and a liaison to the International Olympic Committee.
A 400-metre specialist who turned in a personal-best and Guyana National Record mark of 50.71 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Pompey won the NCAA 400-metre national championship in 2000 while competing for Manhattan College. She’s also the last NCAA title for a Metropolitan School.
A double alumna of Manhattan, Pompey earned a Finance degree in 1999 before completing her MBA in 2003.
Pompey’s career as an accomplished coach came after more than a decade as one of the world’s premier track athletes.
A four-time Olympian (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) for Guyana, Pompey also competed in four Outdoor World Championships and four IAAF (now World Athletics) World Indoor Championships.