JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Former NJCU cross country and track and field student-athlete KRYSTLE WILSON has been named the new head coach of the Gothic Knight men's and women's cross country coach at her alma mater for the 2011 season.
Wilson, who will make her collegiate coaching debut, was among the leaders of the women's track program from 2006-08, running for Coach Steven Royster, including two years as a sprinter during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
A two-time All-New Jersey Athletic Conference selection in outdoor track and field in 2007, she earned Second-Team All-NJAC honors in the 4x100-meter relay and Honorable Mention All-NJAC in the 4x400-meter relay, running the third leg of each relay.
“We are excited to have Krystle Wilson join our staff,” said Director of Athletics Alice De Fazio. “I am confident she will bring stability to our cross country programs and will be an asset to NJCU.”
Wilson has been a member of the NJCU athletic staff for nearly three years from 2008-11 as the assistant to the athletic trainer while completing her degree.
A May 2011 graduate of NJCU with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Women and Gender Studies, she also owns an associate's degree from Hudson County Community College in 2006.
“I am excited to be joining the NJCU athletic community,” said Wilson, who noted she intends to challenge her athletes both mentally and physically. “Although I am new to coaching at this level, I know I will bring hard work to the table. I want to instill in my team the characteristics of hard work and dedication. They are the key not only to being great on the field, but off it as well. Having worked closely with NJCU's head athletic trainer, Ann Marie Stoebling, and competing in cross country and track and field has helped me to prepare for working with my future student athletes. My strong, experienced staff will help to push the cross country team closer to what I know they are capable of.”
Wilson, a 2003 graduate of County Prep High School in Jersey City, competed in track and field for the Hurricanes for Coach Thomas Downes. She has run competitively since the age of 16.
Wilson is the fifth woman in her family to have attended NJCU. Her twin sister, Kimberly, graduated in 2009, while her younger sister, Kelly Wilson, was a member of the women's basketball team from 2005-07.
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