Kia Davis enters her second season as an assistant coach for the University of Pittsburgh Track and Field teams. In her first season at Pitt, Davis guided the women's 400-meter relay team to the NCAA Championships where they set the school record en route to garnering USTFCCCA Second Team All-America honors. Davis also coached current Panther Cambrya Jones to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2011 where she nabbed Honorable Mention All-America status. Upon arriving at Pitt, Davis helped numerous athletes achieve career best times. Jones set personal bests in the 100-meter dash (11.67) and 200-meter dash (23.51) while sophomore Tashuan Hill set a new best time in the 110-meter hurdles (14.26). Other athletes to conquer personal bests include Lanesha Pugh and Ashley Woodford, both of whom set new marks in the 100 and 200-meter dash.
Davis comes to Pitt after recently working as an assistant at Delaware State. Prior to her position there, Davis served as an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida from 2007-09.
Serving as a volunteer coach, Davis spent time at both UNLV (2004-06) and Campbell University (2003-04).
A graduate of St. Augustine's College in 2002, Davis was a standout track athlete, excelling in sprints and hurdles. She won six NCAA Division II National Championships including three during her senior year at St. Augustine's, 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).
