Peterson Announces Three Additions to Track & Field Staff
Nov 4, 2009 | Track & Field
Nov. 4, 2009
Video of Peterson's Announcement
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane director of cross country and track & field Eric Peterson finalized his coaching staff on Wednesday, announcing the additions of Hasani Roseby as sprint coach, Justin Johnson as multi/jumps coach, and 2008 Olympian Leigh Smith as throws coach. All three were standouts in collegiate track & field, as each earned top 10 status in the U.S. Track & Field rankings in their respective events during their careers and boasts experience at the USATF National Championship level.
"I'm really excited to have found three coaches that have the level of competitive expertise and experience that these three former - and in Leigh's case - current, athletes have" Peterson said. "All three have national level competitive experience and that's a significant aspect as to why they were selected as young enthusiastic coaches for our program.
"Hasani Roseby is a former USA 60-meter dash indoor champion and has great skills in both sprinting and hurdling. She is a young and energetic coach that commands a lot of respect from the team. I've enjoyed watching her work and she has really added a lot to the training regime of our young sprinters and hurdlers."
Roseby makes her first foray into collegiate coaching after retiring this summer as a standout sprinter. In March, she was a finalist in the 60-meter dash at the USATF Indoor National Championship, placing seventh. She represented the US at several international meets, which include a victory in St. Polten, Austria in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.
A three-time All-American at UCLA, Roseby was a member of UCLA's NCAA Division I national championship team in 2004. She was a national qualifier for the NCAA Championship in the 100-meter, 100-meter hurdles, 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay in outdoor and the 60-meter hurdles in the indoor season. Roseby was ranked No. 14 in the U.S. and in the top 50 in the world in the 100-meter hurdles and was part of the NCAA runner-up team in the 4x100 relay.
Following her collegiate career, cut short by injury in 2005, she was returned to the national scene as a finalist at the USATF Indoor National Championship in the 60-meter hurdles, placing sixth, in 2006. She qualified again for the Indoor National Championship in 2007, winning the 60-meter dash and holding a rank of second in the United States and top 10 in the world. In 2007, she also qualified for the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, earning a No. 16 national ranking and top 40 world ranking in the 100-meter. She also was part of the Team USA's 4x100 relay team at the USA vs The World Penn Relays, helping the Red, White and Blue to a third-place finish.
Roseby graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a specialization in diversified liberal arts in 2005.
"Justin Johnson comes from a very strong jumping program at Cal State Northridge," Peterson explained. "He was mentored by Avery Anderson, who was a former decathlete and football player at UCLA. Justin, in his own right, was a very accomplished decathlete in his conference. His broad range of knowledge and technical skill is going to help our program immensely as he works with our jumpers and multi-event athletes."
Johnson also holds USATF National Championship experience, as he was the 2009 runner-up in the heptathlon at the USATF Indoor Championships this past February and March. A three-time national championship participant in the decathlon at Cal State Northridge, Johnson holds school records for both the heptathlon and decathlon. Three times he finished as the Big West Conference's runner up in the decathlon, and was the 2007 Western Athletic Conference heptathlon champion.
Johnson graduated from Northridge with a Bachelor Degree of Science in Kinesiology in May of 2008, and has spent the past year working as a personal trainer and as a volunteer assistant for Cal State Northridge.
"Leigh Smith, as a three-time SEC champion and Olympian brings a lot of technical expertise to our program," commented Peterson. "He's highly intelligent, an energetic coach and a really good teacher of technique, as all three of these coaches are."
Smith won the javelin event three times at the SEC outdoor championships while at Tennessee, and earned three All-America honors for the Volunteers. As a freshman in 2001, Smith helped Tennessee to the men's national championship.
As a senior in 2004, he shattered Tennessee school and the SEC Championship javelin records, en route to his third individual SEC championship honor. He was also an SEC Academic Honor Roll member as he earned a degree in wildlife biology with a minor in forestry.
In 2008, Smith represented the United States at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he placed 18th in the qualifying round of the javelin competition. He earned his spot by posting the best distance by an American in 2008, which ranked 13th in the world prior to the Olympic Games.
A native of Raleigh, N.C., Smith prepared for the Olympics while living in Destrehan, La., working out at Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans.
"Tulane enjoys a rich tradition in academic excellence. It is my goal to provide our student-athletes with a world class track & field experience as well. Our staff is committed to recruiting and training the best and brightest student-athletes that share a commitment of hard work and excellence in achievement," Peterson concluded. "This group of assistant coaches has demonstrated these characteristics throughout their lives and I'm proud to begin working with them as we build this program back to a nationally competitive level."
