Oberlin College Athletics

Alisha Samuel begins her fourth season as the men's and women's sprints coach at Oberlin College.

In her three years leading the Oberlin sprinters, Samuel has helped elevate an athlete to an All-American perch, and has helped produce seven All-North Coast Athletic Conference titles, which include five relay teams. She also saw multiple sprinters break school records in that span.
 
The 60-meter dash record fell multiple times in the past two years, with Margaret Miller first breaking it in 2015 -- running it in 8.08 seconds -- before Imani Cook-Gist lowered it further by setting the new standard at 7.91 a year later. Cook-Gist finished fourth in the event at the 2016 All-NCAC Indoor Championships.
 
Samuel began coaching the 400-meter hurdle event last season and helped Lilah Drafts-Johnson to a seventh-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in that event. Drafts-Johnson lowered her own school record by more than a second during the ’16 season and did so again in 2017, placing fourth at the national meet outdoors in 60.78.
 
The Yeowomen’s 4x400-meter relay team also broke a school record en route to a third-place result at the 2016 All-NCAC Outdoor Championships .

Samuel came to Oberlin after having spent the 2013-14 season at William Jewell College, an NCAA Division II institution in Liberty, Missouri. In her lone season at William Jewell, Samuel helped Cardinals' sprinters to many personal bests, including new program records in the 60-, 100- and 200-meter dashes. Additionally, the Cardinals' 4x100-meter relay team bested the previous school record that stood since 1992.
 
In 2011, Samuel coached jumping events at Platte County High School (Mo.) and led a high jumper to an all-state finish at the Class 3 Missouri State Track and Field Championships.
 
In 2010, Samuel served as head coach of St. Joseph's Academy, a Class 4 girls' high school in St. Louis, where she coached sprints.
 
From 2007-09, Samuel worked as a graduate assistant at her alma mater, Northwest Missouri State, presiding over both men's and women's sprint squads. Seven athletes from her tenure at the Maryville, Mo., Division II school still rank among the top 10 in respective sprint events. 
 
During her two seasons there, Northwest Missouri State short-sprints achieved eight all-conference marks, and in 2008 Rachel Lewis earned Freshman of the Year honors at the MIAA Indoor Conference Championships.
 
A USATF Level 2 certified track and field coach, Samuel was a two-time All-American in the NCAA Division II 60-meter dash, and she made six appearances at NCAA championship meets. She also won five individual conference titles in the 60-, 100- and 200 dashes from 2003-05, earned 17 all-conference distinctions from 2003-06 and was a five-time MIAA Athlete of the Week honoree. 
 
A native of San Juan, Trinidad, Samuel ran the opening leg on the Bearcats' school-record-breaking 4x100 relay team at the 2006 MIAA Outdoor Championships, a mark that still stands today.