GREENVILLE, N.C. – Viershanie Latham has been named an assistant coach for the East Carolina track and field program, according to an announcement by Director of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Curt Kraft Thursday.

Latham most recently served as an assistant coach at Lubbock Christian University during the 2020-21 school year, helping start the program from scratch and mentoring the jumps squad.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Coach Latham to our Pirate family,” Kraft said. “Her past experiences will be valuable as we continue to build and improve our programs. To add someone the caliber of Coach Latham to our staff is very special. She will be a great role model for both our men’s and women’s programs.

“The student athletes will be excited to learn from a proven coach and former athlete that was a four-time All-American and Big 12 champion. Throughout the entire interview process, her passion and excitement were very transparent to the search committee. I know one thing for certain, if her coaching passion matches her competitive passion and accolades, she will take our jumps program to the next level.”

Before arriving at Lubbock Christian, Latham worked as a volunteer coach for Texas Tech, conducting practices for the jumpers. Along with her duties at Texas Tech, Latham coached horizontal jumps for the West Texas Select Track & Field team as well as conducted private coaching sessions. Many of her athletes improved their marks by at least one foot.

After graduation, Latham competed professionally, qualifying for the USA Track and Field Championships from 2017 to 2019. She finished in fourth place in the triple jump in 2017 and moved up one spot for a third-place finish in 2018.

As a Texas Tech student-athlete, Latham captured one Big 12 individual title in the triple jump. She was selected as the Big 12 Athlete of the Week once in 2017 and named a NCAA All-American four times during her collegiate career.

Latham graduated from Texas Tech University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in biology.