St. John's University Athletics
Yvonne Harrison Named Track and Field Assistant Coach
9/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Head coach Jim Hurt announced the hiring of Yvonne Harrison as an assistant coach for the cross country and track and field teams, effective immediately. Harrison, originally from the Bronx, has been a professional runner since 2002 and competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics and several World Championships.
"We are very pleased to have Yvonne join our staff," said Hurt. "She is a product of the New York City club (Coach Don Potash and the Dynamite Track Club) and high school (Lehman) track and field community, and she brings a great background in the sport to us. She has been successful at an elite level and her ability to relate to our young women will have a very positive affect on them and our program."
Harrison is an accomplished track and field athlete and has competed on both the national and international levels, representing Puerto Rico in the 400 meter intermediate hurldes. This past May, Harrison captured the bronze medal at the Iberoamerican Championships in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 2004, she competed at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, where she was a semifinalist.
In 2003 while training with former Rice University and Puerto Rican national team head coach Victor Lopez, Harrison set Puerto Rico???s national record in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles. She also won the gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Championships and was a semifinalist at the World Championships in Paris, France. Harrison was also a semifinalist in the World Championships in 2002 in Edmonton, Canada.
Harrison ran for the University of Illinois, under head coach Gary Winkler, and graduated in 1998 with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology. While a member of the Fighting Illini, Harrison was a four-time All-American. She was also the runner-up at the NCAA Championships in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles during her senior campaign.
After graduation, Harrison served as a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater from 1999-2000.
"This is a great opportunity, first and foremost, to help the program at St. John???s go to the next level," said Harrison. "It is also a great opportunity to be back home and to work with Coach Hurt and Coach Honerkamp. I believe we can be a high caliber team and do well at the national level this year."
-Red Storm-
Transactions: Yvonne Harrison named the assistant cross country and track and field coach at St. John???s University (N.Y.).