The 2022 track and field season is just a few months away for Georgia State and a few new faces have already begun helping the program.
Atlanta-native Amber Hughes is coming back from her professional career to take on coaching for Georgia State. She is a decorated athlete who has put together a long list of accomplishments at Tennessee State University.
Along with Hughes, two other volunteer assistant coaches will help team operations, sprints and jumps and support the overall team to perform to their best of ability on meet days. With the team preparing for their indoor season this upcoming January, Hughes will help the team in multiple ways other than just being in team operations.
She brings her experience on the track from going through various rigorous training and going against high-level competition.
Hughes ran at Tennessee State, where she excelled in sprints, hurdles and jumping events. During her sophomore season, she earned an All-America honorable mention and collected USTFCCCA first-team All-American honors as a Tiger during her junior and senior seasons. She was also named the Ohio Valley Conference female athlete of the year in 2017.
Hughes went on to win twelve more rewards in her collegiate career, such as two consecutive athletes of year rewards in both indoor and outdoor events, along with 26 individual championships.
After her excellent collegiate career, Hughes decided to go pro, where she competed in the 60m hurdle race with a stellar time of 8.08. As well as go on to finish top three in the 2019 USATF indoor National Championships in the hurdles.
It is safe to say the Panthers’ track team got a good coach in Hughes. She will join Dentarious Locke, Dwight Phillips and Darrow Ramsey in the Athletics Department offices.
Locke, Phillips and Ramsey have all decorated athletes in their own right as well. Locke became a Nike athlete right after he graduated.
Phillips is a former Olympic gold medalist in the long jump. Lastly, Ramsey has coaching experience at different colleges where he has sent athletes to become MVC champions and 15 all MVC honorees.
The women’s track team will be heading to Birmingham, Alabama, to compete in the KMS Invitational and the KMS Open the week of Jan. 24. The hard work and preparation prepared by head coach Kyle Stevenson and the rest of the coaching staff will help them get ready for the indoor season.
