Lindenwood director of cross country/track and field Nadia Alexander-Pompey has been selected to join the United States Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Female Coaching Mentorship Program as a mentor.

 "I am excited to serve as a mentor for the USTFCCCA Female Coaches Mentorship program for the third consecutive year," said Alexander-Pompey.  

"Serving as a mentor is one of my professional passions. It's something that I wish our sport had more of when I first entered the profession.  Increasing women coaches in track and field is very important as well as retaining the women coaches already in the industry.  Throughout my career I have been blessed with incredible mentors and mentees since my involvement in the Coaches Mentorship program, and I am truly honored to do my part in mentoring young coaches."
 
The Female Mentorship Program, which was established in 2018, is designed to increase the representation, depth of knowledge and advancement of female coaches in the field of cross country and track & field coaching at every level. The program aims to advance the depth of female coaching experience by pairing individuals up with a 1:1 year-round mentorship with a senior coach in order to develop a holistic self-reflection and emotionally supported environment.
 
Alexander-Pompey, who attended The Manning's School and St. Hugh's High in Jamaica, began her tenure as the head coach of the men's and women's track & field and cross-country program in August of 2022. She earned her bachelors of general study with a concentration in social science from Louisiana Tech in 2009.  She finished her masters of sport management, health, physical education, and recreation from Virginia State in 2012.

Prior to her coaching career, Alexander-Pompey was a member of the Louisiana Tech Women's Track and Field Team where she was a three-time Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Champion. She currently holds both the indoor (16.34m) and outdoor (16.68m) women's shot-put records.

Alexander-Pompey has also competed internationally, participating in the 2010 Commonwealth Games while representing her home country of Jamaica. She also competed in the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2010 and the Pan American Games in 2007.

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah created quite a stir last week Wednesday, October 5, at the Princess Margaret School in St. John's, Antigua.

Student-athletes across Jamaica are set to benefit again from the World Class Athletics training camps provided by the MVP Track & Field Club.

Barbados is to get a new national stadium following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Caribbean nation and China on Friday.

World championships and Commonwealth Games finalist Natoya Goule has implored Jamaicans to do a better job of protecting the environment and steer away from littering.

Jamaican Olympic and World Champion Veronica Campbell Brown is now a mother of two after giving birth to her son, Zane Lucas Brown, on September 20.

Campbell Brown, who also has a daughter with husband and fellow former sprinter Omar Brown, made the announcement on her Instagram page on Tuesday.

Campbell Brown, 40, won back-to-back Olympic 200m gold medals in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 as well as a 100m gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. She also won 200m World Championship gold in 2011 in Daegu.

Titans Track Club coach and former Olympian Michael Frater is confident his new charge Briana Williams will be able to make the transition from star junior to successful senior, despite admitting that it has been difficult for former junior stars in the past.

The 20-year-old Williams recently announced the decision to part ways with long-time coach Ato Boldon and join Frater and Gregory Little at Titans.  As a junior, Williams was a world champion in both the 100m and 200m.  Since turning pro in 2020, however, the athlete has failed to engineer anything close to similar success at the senior level.

Williams has made both the Olympics and World Championship teams, going on to win 4x100m relay gold, but has only managed to secure a spot in the relay pool to date and missed out on individual appearances.  At the Jamaica national trials, earlier this year, her time of 10.94, a new personal best, was only good enough for fourth spot.

In track and field, it isn’t uncommon for junior stars to fail to make the grade at the senior level but Frater believes Williams has the mindset to join the likes of Usain Bolt and Veronica Campbell-Brown as world juniors champions who went on to excel at the senior level.

“It’s hard for a lot of these athletes that do great things at young ages, a lot of them never surpass what they do,” Frater told the SportsMax Zone.

“That's why most people will tell you that they prefer athletes who weren’t teeing off at a young age,” he added.

“I think with Briana’s attitude and dedication, though, it won’t be a problem for her transitioning to the next level, and as coach Ato said he may not have been able to spend enough time with her.  For an athlete to be a world-class athlete she has to get the full attention that she needs.”

Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Briana Williams is about to launch a new chapter of her track and field career under the guidance of new coaches to begin the 2022/2023 track season.

Jamaican thrower Venique Brown will return to the University at Albany in the role of Director of Operations for the track & field and cross-country program, the school announced on Tuesday.

Brown, 26, will begin her term part-time before assuming the full-time role in October.

Brown joined the University at Albany in 2018 as a graduate student after attending the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Before University, she attended the Ardenne High School.

She is one of the highest-performing competitors in UAlbany history. Brown is one of two members of the women's program to earn Division I All-America honours after placing sixth in her signature event, the discus, at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. 

Furthermore, Brown is the first woman in program history to specifically earn First Team All-America honours in the Division I era. 

That same 2019 season saw Brown being named Northeast Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year. She also set the UAlbany program record in the event, recording a mark of 57.94m. Her personal best of 58.97m was done in 2017.

Brown earned two graduate degrees from the ENEB Business School, her MBA and her Master's in Supply Chain Management in 2021 after earning undergraduate degrees from UAlbany in Economics and Business Administration in 2020. 

After exhausting her eligibility, Brown continued her role with UAlbany track & field as a student volunteer assistant coach while she completed her degrees.

The fastest woman alive and the fastest man in history strutted on the catwalk recently during New York Fashion Week.

World Championship 400m silver medallist Kirani James was forced to settle for the runner-up spot at the Gala dei Castelli in, Switzerland, on Monday, behind world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa who has continued to blaze a trail of resurgence.

In what is expected to be the final race of his season, the Grenadian clocked 44.38, the same time as Van Niekerk, as the two battled all the way to the line and had to be separated by a photo finish.   Another South African Zakhiti Nene was third in 45.75.

The time was the second fastest clocked by the athlete this season, behind the 44.26 recorded to win the Diamond League final in Zürich last week.  For his part, Van Niekerk also impressive when he clocked a season-best 44.39 in the pre-program.

Natoya Goule won the 800m but Shericka Jackson finished a shocking fifth while Kirani James suffered a mild upset in their respective events at the Galà dei Castelli meeting in Bellinzona, Switzerland on Monday.

Goule ran a solid 1:59.05 for an easy win in the 800m. Taking control of the race with just over 400m to go, the Jamaican sped away from the field leaving Anita Horvat in her wake.

The Slovenian clocked 2:00.76 for second place with Anna Wielgotz of Poland finishing third in 2:01.24.

In what must have been the surprise of the meet, Jackson, whose 10.71 makes her the second fastest woman in the world this year, was fifth in the 100m in 11.19.

Marie Josee Ta Lou, meanwhile, won impressively in 10.86 ahead of Great Britain’s Daryll Neita (11.00) and Egypt’s Hassant Hemida (11.07), who were second and third, respectively.

Murielle Ahoure-Demps was fourth in 11.18.

Ackeem Blake ran 10.09 for fourth place in a closely contested 100m dash that was won by American Brandon Carnes in 10.04.

Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya was second in 10.05, the same time given to the USA’s Kendal Williams who was third.

Andrennette Knight ran 52.23 to finish third in the 400m that was won by Lada Vondrova of the Czech Republic in 51.60. Laviai Nelson of the United Kingdom was second in 51.72.

Even though world-record holder Wayde van Niekerk was down for the 400m, James on the basis of his consistent performances this season must have been favoured to win the one-lap sprint.

But no one told the South African who edged the Grenadian to win in a meet record 44.33 to James 44.38. Zakhiti Nene of Africa ran 45.75 for third.

Earlier, Damion Thomas ran 13.38 for second place in the 110m hurdles race which American Jamal Britt claimed victory in 13.18.

Brazil’s Rafael Pereira was a close third in 13.41.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn rebounded from the disappointment of finishing fourth at the Diamond League final in Zurich last week Thursday with a comfortable victory in the 100m hurdles.

The Puerto Rican clocked 12.72 beating American Nia Ali, who ran 12.80 for second place.

Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska finished third in 12.95.

Rushell Clayton and Foirdaliza Cofil won their respective events at the Hanzekovic Memorial Meeting in Zagreb, Croatia on Sunday.

Grenadian quarter mile star Kirani James has expressed delight in winning the men’s 400 metres at the Diamond League final in Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday. 

James finished comfortably ahead of the United States Bryce Deadmon and Brendon Norwood.  The athlete’s latest win was the third occasion that he has claimed the title, adding to wins in 2011 and 2015.

The Grenadian has enjoyed somewhat a bit of resurgence in recent seasons after recovering from injury and illness.  In July, the athlete captured silver in the event at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.  

“I am feeling good. It feels great to be the diamond race winner. The race was good, very competitive, against the best guys in the world,” James said following the event.

“Although it was very unfortunate that Matthew got injured during warmup and had to pull out at the last minute.

He is the European champion and I would have liked to compete against him,” he added.

“I have one more meeting coming, I try to enjoy every moment and represent my country. It is special for me to win here today after eleven years when I also won in Zurich.”

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson continued her stellar 2022 season by winning the 200m at Thursday’s Diamond League final in Zurich.

Jackson, who earlier ran 10.81 for second behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m, sped to 21.80 to take the 200m crown ahead of American Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas (22.38), and her countrywoman Tamara Clark (22.42).

Jackson ran 22.07 to finish second to Thomas (21.98) in her first 200m race of the season at the Doha Diamond League event on May 13 and has gone undefeated in nine races since, including a 21.45 effort to win gold at the World Championships in Eugene, becoming the fastest woman alive in the process.

In the men’s equivalent, The Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando ran 20.02 for third, the same time as second placed finisher Aaron Brown of Canada. American World Champion Noah Lyles was victorious in a meet record 19.51.