University of North Carolina Athletics
Track & Field Adds Three Volunteer Assistants
December 4, 2017 | Track & Field
CHAPEL HILL - The University of North Carolina track and field program has added three volunteer assistants for the 2018 season, Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Harlis Meaders announced Tuesday. Jeff Gorski, a former Tar Heel student-athlete and assistant coach, will guide the men's and women's javelin. Jernail Hayes and Kia Id-Deen will assist Coach Abigi Id-Deen with men's and women's hurdles, sprints and relays.
JEFF GORSKI (JAVELIN)
Gorski, a 1977 Carolina graduate and three-time All-ACC performer in javelin, is a highly-respected javelin instructor around the world having worked with elite athletes from high school national champions to Olympians.Â
Most recently, from 2011-17, Gorski was the javelin development chair for The National Scholastic Athletic Foundation, where he coached and trained some of the most talented high school javelin athletes in the country.Â
From 1999-03, Gorski served as the men's javelin development chair for USA Track & Field (later the USATF High Performance program), the highest-ranking individual event position at the national level.Â
That opportunity followed his success as an independently-contracted coach, during which time he notably worked with six-time U.S. javelin champion and 1992 and 1996 Olympian Tom Pukstys. Under Gorski's tutelage, Pukstys set six American records in the javelin and was ranked in the top 10 in the world for three years.
Gorski's first opportunity to coach the javelin came at Carolina, when from 1981-91 he periodically worked with student-athletes as an assistant coach, including All-Americas Lynda Lipson, Sherrie MacKinney and Sean Murray. Gorski was also the throws coach for Meaders, who during his time at UNC won back-to-back ACC titles in the discus (1991-92), a conference crown in the weight throw in 1992, made the 1992 Olympic Trials and set a Carolina discus record that stood for 23 years.
He has coached elite javelin throwers from his Chapel Hill home since 1992, when Lipson and Murray came to him requesting additional training. Adding a weight room, 70' javelin runway and other facilities, Gorski began to equip his property to serve and train top javelin high school, collegiate and post-collegiate athletes from around the U.S. In 2000, he founded Klub Keihas and began to officially run clinics and training camps for athletes and coaches to learn the basics of throws technique and training. The goal of Klub Keihas is to develop top athletes while teaching the skills and abilities to become future leaders and role models.
Gorski is a native of Clark, N.J., and has lived in Chapel Hill since 1981.
Coach Meaders on Gorski: "It's exciting to have Coach Gorski rejoin the Carolina family. He is part of our history and is going to help us write the future of the program. Coach Gorski is an extremely decorated coach. He's probably one of the better javelin coaches in the country, and for him to volunteer his time to be part of our staff is really flattering. Coach Gorski of course coached me as a collegiate athlete and mentored me while I was here so it's great to have a father figure here to sort of help me guide the program too. I'm really excited about what he brings to the program. Even though he will be the senior coach on the staff, he is one of the most energetic coaches, highly animated, very colorful. He just loves what he does. He's got a great passion not only for the javelin, but a great passion for working with the kids. I think he's going to be a tremendous asset to everything we're trying to accomplish."
KIA ID-DEEN (SPRINTS, HURDLES AND RELAYS)
Id-Deen (formerly Kia Davis) comes to Carolina after much coaching success at the collegiate and high school levels. Most recently, Id-Deen was the head boys and girls coach at Farragut High School in Farragut, Tenn., from 2015-17.
Prior to her stint at Farragut, Id-Deen spent one season at George Mason University as an assistant coach for sprints and hurdles with the Patriots. She led student-athletes to personal bests and A-10 honors on the way to helping both the men and women to Atlantic-10 outdoor titles. She also coached the men's 4x100 to a conference championship.
From 2010-14, Id-Deen was the assistant head coach for sprints and hurdles with the Pittsburgh Panthers. Under her counsel, Id-Deen led Panthers to Big East titles in the 200, 100 and 4x100 and helped Pittsburgh send two individuals to national championship meets. Id-Deen also guided the women's 4x100 to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2014, and helped the men's team win that same relay at the Big East Championships for the first time in 10 years. In her first season with the Panthers, Id-Deen guided the women's 4x100 team to a Big East record and NCAA Honorable Mention accolades.
Other highlights from her time with the Panthers include coaching Joshua Thompson to a spot on the 2012 USA World Junior Team after claiming a silver medal at the USA Junior Championships in the 110-meter hurdles as well as leading Cambrya Jones to three school records (indoor 200, 100, 200), second-team All-America honors, two Big East titles (100, 200), Big East Most Valuable Athlete honors and a spot on the USA NACAC U-23 team.
From 2007-09, Id-Deen was an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman University where she helped produce numerous conference champions, NCAA Regional qualifiers, All-Americas and the first-ever NCAA Championships appearance for the BCU women.
A 2002 graduate of St. Augustine's College, Id-Deen was exceptional in sprints and hurdles. She won six NCAA Division II National Championships, claiming the 55-meter hurdles at the Indoor Championships and added top finishes in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200 at the Outdoor Championships. Id-Deen was also CIAA Conference Champion in both the 55-meter hurdles and the 200.
Id-Deen represented Liberia in the 2008 Olympic Games, competing in the 200 and 400. She was also a semifinalist at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in the 60-meter hurdles and a silver medalist at the 2006 World Indoor Championships with the USA 4x400 squad.
She is the Liberian record holder in the 60, 100, 200, 400 and 100-meter hurdles.
A native of Chester, Pa., Id-Deen is the wife of UNC's Coordinator of Sprints, Hurdles and Relays Abigi Id-Deen. She was inducted into the NCAA Division II Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Chester High School Hall of Fame in 2004.
JERNAIL HAYES (SPRINTS, HURDLES AND RELAYS)
Hayes comes to Carolina from Virginia State University, where she was an assistant track & field and cross country coach from 2010-14, specifically working with hurdlers and sprints. She also coordinated scheduling for student-athletes and managed team operations. Hayes earned her masters of science in sports management from VSU in 2012. With her assistance, the Virginia Sate women won the program's first indoor and outdoor conference titles in 2012.
Competing on the national and international stage, Hayes is a two-time medalist at the IAAF Indoor World Championships with the United States in the 4x400. In 2012, the squad won silver in Turkey before capturing gold in Poland in 2014. Hayes has also competed at six USA national championships in the indoor 400 and 400-meter hurdles. She was also a 2012 Olympic Trials semifinalist in the 400-meter hurdles.
Hayes earned her undergraduate degree in 2010 from Seton Hall University, where as student-athlete she was two-time All-America (once in the 400 and once as a 4x400 anchor). She was also an eight-time Big East Champion in the 400-meter hurdles, the 500 and the 4x400.
Hayes is a native of West Memphis, Ark., and holds a USTFCCCA Technical Coaching Certification.
Coach Meaders on Id-Deen & Hayes: "I couldn't be more exited to add Jernail Hayes and Kia Id-Deen to our coaching staff. It would be hard for anyone to find two more decorated athletes and professionals that can immediately come in and have a direct impact on our program. Their ability to work in the sprints, hurdles and relays with Coach Abigi Id-Deen will definitely be an asset to our men's and women's programs. Having competed internationally, and having competed on the Olympic stage, their life experience and track and field experience bring mounds of new information and insight for our kids to draw upon. I'm delighted that both of them have chosen to come and be part of our Carolina track and field family."
