Yvonne Harrison

				Last College: University of Illinois Position: Assistant Coach Season: Fifth

Yvonne Harrison enters her fifth season as an assistant coach for the cross country and track & field teams for St. John's, where she works primarily with the sprinters.

Last season, Harrison worked with freshman sprinter Rikka Lovely and helped her to a first place finish at the Outdoor Metropolitan Championships and a fifth place finish at the Indoor BIG EAST Championships. Harrison's 4x400-meter relay team also finished seventh at the BIG EAST and eighth at the ECAC Championships. Senior Asia Davy finished first in the 400-meter dash at the Outdoor Metropolitan Championships.

In 2009, Harrison coached senior sprinter Phobay Kutu-Akoi to top-place finishes at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Kutu-Akoi's 11.52-second finish in the 100-meter preliminaries at that event set a new school record. She also coached junior Asia Davy to a title at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Along with Kutu-Akoy, Harrison's 4x100-meter relay team and 4x200-meter relay team set new school records.

Harrison is an accomplished track & field athlete and has competed on both national and international levels, having represented Puerto Rico in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. In May 2006, Harrison captured the bronze medal at the Ibero-American Championships in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 2004, she competed at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, where she was a semifinalist.

In 2003, 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.

As an undergrad, Harrison ran for the University of Illinois and graduated in 1998 with a bachelor of arts 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.

Harrison currently lives in Laurelton, N.Y. She is a licensed and ordained minister, and is currently pursuing her master's degree in Divinity at St. John's.