Director of Men's & Women's Track and Field/Cross Country Andrew Gerard announced the addition of Kia Davis to the men's and women's track and field staff. An Olympian and a National Champion in her own right, Davis works with Mason's sprinters and hurdlers.
"We are thrilled to bring Coach Davis on board. Her experience as both a coach and a tremendously successful athlete will be an invaluable resource for our student-athletes,” Gerard said. “Her energy and enthusiasm for the sport are impressive and were very evident through the hiring process. We are fortunate to have been able bring her into the Patriot family and I'm confident our student-athletes will benefit in both the short and long term."
Davis joins the Patriots after five years with the Pittsburgh Panthers.
"I am excited to work with Coach Gerard and his staff,” Davis said. “I am looking forward to this opportunity to continue the success that he has here at George Mason. There is a great history here and I'm ready to jump right in and help in any way l can. "
The results are evident based on the success Davis has had coaching in conferences such as the Big East and ACC, helping student-athletes to conference titles, school records and multiple personal bests.
In the 2013-2014 season Coach Davis guided Pitt's Jessica Tongue to a personal best in the 100m 11.60. Jessica has five of the six fastest times posted in the event at Pitt. Jessica returned after two knee surgeries the previous year to score at the outdoor ACC track and field championships.
In the 2011-12 season, Davis helped former Pitt sprinter Cambrya Jones capture Big East titles and school records in 200 meter dash for both indoor and outdoor. Jones posted program best times of 23.47 in indoor and 22.72 in outdoor en route to being named the Big East Most Valuable Athlete. Davis helped Jones become the first Pitt Panther on the women's side since 2006 to participate in the NCAA Indoor National Championships where she finished 10th.
Davis also guided the women's 4x100 meter relay team to the NCAA Outdoor Championships last season and helped the men's team win that same relay at the Big East Championship Meet for the first time in 10 years.
Davis coached Big East Champion Anthony Hobwana to his victory in the 100 meter dash as he set a personal best time of 10.33 at the Outdoor Championships. She also saw many of her athletes place in the top five at the championships meet, including returners Tashaun Hill and Joshua Thompson. Hill finished third at Big East with a personal best time of 13.77 in the 110 hurdles, and Thompson was ranked the No. 1 freshman indoor hurdler in the nation and he was one of two freshmen to compete in the NCAA Championship for the hurdles. He placed second at the Junior National Meet in a personal best time of 13.59, earning a spot on the Junior World Team as he traveled to Barcelona, Spain and took ninth place in the World Meet.
In her first season with the Panthers, Davis contributed right away by guiding the women's 4x100 team to a Big East Record time of 44.24 as they received NCAA Honorable Mention accolades.
Prior to joining the Pitt coaching staff, Davis spent one season at Saint Mary's School for Girls. While there, she helped her athletes break 13 school records.
From 2007-09, Davis was an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman where she produced numerous conference champions, NCAA Regional qualifiers and NCAA All-Americans. In 08-09, she coached Tavia Burke to a school record in the 110m hurdles (13.29) and coached Dianne Munroe to school records in the 100m/200m (11.29/23.20). In 2007-2008 the BCU track and field team set 18 school records and two MEAC Conference records.
The men's team placed 4th indoor and 6th outdoor at the MEAC Championships. The BCU Women's team finished 5th indoor and 6th outdoor at the MEAC Championships. These finishes were the best finishes for the two programs since 1997. She led the women's 4x100m relay to All-Regional Honors and a berth into the NCAA Championships. This was the first ever NCAA appearance for the BCU women's program.
A graduate of St. Augustine's College in 2002, Davis was a standout in sprints and hurdles. She won six NCAA Division II National Championships including three during her senior year, claiming the 55-meter hurdles (7.62) at the Indoor Championships and added top times in both the 100-meter hurdles (13.08) and 200-meter dash (23.89) at the Outdoor Championships. Davis was a CIAA Conference Champion in both the 55-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash.
She has competed at several high level competitions, most notably, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, representing Liberia. Davis is the Liberian National Record Holder in five categories including the 60 and 100-meter hurdles along with the 100, 200 and 400-meter dash events.
Davis set a new world record at the Penn Relay USA vs. the World Sprint Medley Championships. Other highlights include breaking the meet record in the 400-meter dash in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 2008 with a personal best outdoor time of 51.55. She also was a semi-finalist at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia Spain earlier that year, competing in the 60-meter hurdles.
In 2006, Davis ranked in the top-15 in the United States and was a silver medalist with the US 4x400m relay team in Moscow, Russia at the World Indoor Championships. At the USATF Indoor Championships, Davis set her personal best mark of 52.17 in the 400-meter dash.
Shortly after her college career, Davis was a USATF National Indoor Finalist from 2002-04, competing in the 60-meter hurdles.
An eight-time State Champion, Davis was inducted into the Chester High School Hall of Fame (2004) and the NCAA Division II Track & Field Hall of Fame (2009).
