Guyanese Olympian Aliann Pompey has been appointed the new head coach of the St John’s Track & Field and Cross Country programme, the university’s Director of Athletics Mike Cragg announced on Wednesday (June 17). She replaces Jim Hurt, who retired in May after a tenure lasting four decades.

Pompey was the associate head coach for the 2020/21 season but has been with St John’s since 2014.

“I am very pleased and proud to see Coach Pompey become our next head coach,” said Hurt.

“She is exceptionally qualified to lead the program to new heights. It’s been my fortune to work with Aliann these past seven years and her record of accomplishments have 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 program forward in the years ahead.”

Pompey expressed her gratitude to being elevated to the position of head coach.

“I want to thank Mike Cragg for his vote of confidence and his support in appointing me as the head coach,” said Pompey, a four-time Olympian, who also competed in four Outdoor World Championships and four IAAF World Indoor Championships.

“It is with great honor 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. I am 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.”  

Cragg said selecting Pompey to lead the programme was the natural choice.

“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 program of her own,” he said.

“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 Coach Pompey will continue to help the track & field program reach new heights as its head coach.”

Since 2019, Pompey currently serves as the president of the Panam Sports Athlete Commission, representing more than 6,600 athletes across 41 countries that compete in the Pan American Games.  She served for four years as a member of the Athletes’ Commission and she is also a member of the organization’s executive board and a liaison to the International Olympic Committee.

In 2016, Pompey served as the manager of the Guyanese Olympic squad in Rio de Janeiro.

As an athlete, Pompey won the NCAA 400m national championship in 2000 while competing for Manhattan College, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and completed her MBA in 2003.  She also ran a personal best 50.71 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.