Robert Davis was named head coach of the Queens College men’s and women’s cross country and track & field programs in August of 2017.
The 2019-2020 season saw Davis’s Knights perform well in both cross country and track and field. The 2019 Cross Country campaign saw success on both sides as the Men’s team put up two top-5 finishes at the Adelphi and St. Joseph’s College invitationals, as well as a top 8 finish at the New York Tech meet. Clivensky Etienne performed well as he had multiple top-25 finishes on the season which included being named to the ECC weekly honor roll once and placing 15th in scoring at the ECC championship meet. On the women’s CC side they kicked the season off with three straight top-10 finishes at invitationals. Crystal Jia was the first Knight to cross the finish line at the ECC championship meet as she finished in 18th place, capping off a season that saw her named to the weekly honor roll several times. Alexis Hall also had a strong rookie campaign under Davis as Hall was named ECC rookie of the week for Cross Country once and finished in the top-30 at the ECC meet. In Track and Field David oversaw the Knights to some great performances at the ECC Indoor Track and Field championships as five Knights players captured a combined 7 medals at the event. Pavan Bhat accounted for three of them as he earned gold in the triple jump, silver for the high jump and bronze for the long jump. Nyakuome Thichiot led the way on the women’s side as she earned a silver medal with her performance in the triple jump while two other Knights players finished in the top-7 in other events. While the season was cut short the Knights earned recognition as the team earned seven nods on the 2020 ECC All-conference awards for T&F while four players; Nyakuome Thichiot, Pavan Bhat, Jahmel Maynor-Mendez and Ooreofe Oluwadara were named to the NCAA DII All-East region team for Indoor Track and Field.
Davis enjoyed a great deal of success in the 2018-2019 season, specifically in track and field as the Knights were the East Coast Conference runners-up on the men's side of the outdoor championship meet. Queens recorded 22 All-Conference nods in the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championship with Pavan Bhat registering three All-ECC First Team nods in his debut campaign. Diana Cruz concluded her stellar career at QC with victories in the 500-meter run in the indoor track and field championship as well as winning the 400-meter run at the outdoor championship. The 2018-19 season also featured five All-Conference nominations in the indoor track and field championship as well as seventh-place finishes on both sides of the ECC Cross Country Championship meet.
In his first season with the Knights, Davis sized up the competition in the ECC with seventh and eighth place finishes in the cross country and track and field championships.
Davis comes to Queens after spending four seasons at fellow NCAA Division II institution Virginia State University of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).
While at Virginia State, Davis served as an assistant coach for the Trojans’ men’s and women’s track & field teams, with an emphasis on jumps and multi events, while serving as interim head coach for the track & field and cross country teams during the 2016 season.
During his time with the Trojans, Davis coached 48 All-CIAA performers and five All-Americans. Virginia State had 12 CIAA outdoor individual champions and eight CIAA indoor individual champions. As interim head coach of the cross country program last season, Davis led the Virginia State men’s team to a runner-up finish at the CIAA Cross Country Championships. Two of his runners placed in the top 10.
Prior to Virginia State, Davis coached at the high school level for four years. He served as an assistant coach for the track & field teams at Meadowbrook High School in Chesterfield, Va., before becoming head coach of the track & field and cross country teams at Huguenot High School in Richmond, Va. Davis coached four Virginia High School League (VHSL) state champions, and he also has had two qualifiers for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Under-23 Games during his coaching career.
Davis graduated from Virginia State in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in health & physical education, where he was an All-CIAA performer on the Trojans’ track & field team. He also holds numerous coaching certifications from the USATF and USTFCCCA.
