Porscha Dobson enters her eighth season, overseeing the women’s sprints and hurdles and second as the Associate Head Coach for the Penn men's and women's track & field programs in 2019-2020.
Dobson has helped to lead a resurgence of the women's sprint program for the Red and Blue. Most recently, Dobson’s athletes led Penn to four Ivy League Heptagonal Championship Team Titles in two years- the first in 22 years. Penn women have dominated the Ivy League and the Mid-Atlantic Region while also making their presence known on the national stage. It’s no wonder Dobson was awarded USTFCCCA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for back to back seasons (2018 and 2019).
The fastest women in program history in every indoor and outdoor sprint, hurdle and relay event are all Dobson protégés.
The 2018 and 2019 seasons brought Penn its first individual NCAA qualifier in a sprint event and four NCAA All Americans. In 2018 Uchechi Nwogwugwu (400m) became the 9th fastest freshman in the US, third in all of Nigeria, a two-time Heps Champion, third in Ivy League history and ran the second fastest 400m in Heps Championships history. In 2019, Nwogwugwu advanced to the finals of the NCAA Championships while teammate Skyla Wilson (400 hurdles) emerged as the third fastest freshman in the NCAA. The two combined with 800m and 200m stars, Nia Akins and Cecil Ene, to send Penn’s first 4x400 Relay to the National Championships with a time of 3:32.12.
During the 2018 Indoor and 2019 Outdoor Heps Championships, Dobson’s event group tallied the highest percentage of points towards the team championship. In both indoor and outdoor seasons, her athletes scored in the largest number of events, displaying versatility and depth. 2019’s Heps Championships gave Penn women the relay sweep- winning the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relays- the first time for Penn and the first team to do it since 2003.
At the 2019 125th anniversary of the historic Penn Relays, Dobson combined with Director Steve Dolan to bring home Penn’s and the Ivy League’s first women’s Championship of America title, winning the Distance Medley Relay in a program and Ivy record time of 10:59.44. The 4x400 team also placed second in the COA section behind the reigning indoor national champions in a then school record. The previous year, Dobson’s 4x100 team won the overall college championship section and placed third in the shuttle hurdles in school and Ivy League record fashion.
In 2017, Dobson also helped lead the first ever women's relay team in program history to NCAA's as the foursome of Cecil Ene, Imani Solan, Mikayla Schneider and Elena Brown-Soler advanced in the 4x400m relay. Dobson played a pivotal role in the rise of the Women’s team as they placed second at the indoor and outdoor Heptagonal Championships- the highest finish in 21 and 10 years respectively. Penn’s women not only climbed the Heptagonal ranks but, the Mid-Atlantic Regional ranks as well. The women ranked second in the Mid-Atlantic Region for both 2017’s indoor and outdoor seasons due largely to Dobson’s women as two or more of
Dobson’s sprinters and hurdlers ranked among the top eight in every sprint, hurdle and relay event in the region.
Dobson’s women sprinters and hurdlers own 17 current school records (33 over the last seven seasons), 98 top-10 program marks and appear 23 times on the Ivy League’s top 10 All time lists. Dobson has produced 98 Ivy League scorers, 47 All Ivy recipients, 24 NCAA East Prelim Qualifiers, 22 Heps Championship runner ups, 10 Heps Champions and five All-American honorees. Athletes she’s coached are on the Ivy League top 10 All Time List in the 60m, 60hh, 100m, 200m (indoor and outdoor), 500m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay (indoor and outdoor) Distance Medley Relay and Shuttle Hurdles Relay. Between 2016 and 2019, three first-year athletes, Imani Solan, Tia Livingston and Skyla Wilson competed and advanced to the finals in the USATF Under 20 Nationals Championships and Penn’s first ever short sprinter, Taylor McCorkle advanced to the semi-finals in the 100m dash at the NCAA Prelims.
Coach Dobson’s talents at Penn further--not only can she successfully develop student athletes on the track but, she can recruit some of the best in the country. Dobson has recruited athletes ranked amongst the top 25 in the U.S. including 2015’s No. 6 indoor 200m runner, Imani Solan, 2016’s No. 4 55m hurdler, Breanne Bygrave, No.1 ranked pentathlete, Tia Livingston, 2017’s No. 23 400m runner, Uchechi Nwogwugwu, 2018’s No. 23 300m hurdler, Skyla Wilson, and 2019’s No. 10 indoor long jumper and No.17 100m hurdler, Lauryn Harris, No. 8 60m hurdler Grace O’Shea and No. 13 400m hurdler, Katherine Muccio.
While it may have been a short stint in coaching Penn’s men sprinters and hurdlers, Dobson had her share of highlights as well. Ben Bowers and Tom Timmins. Bowers was a Heps runner up in the100HH and multiple time scorer in both the 60HH and 110HH, NCAA East Prelim qualifier and the third and sixth fastest hurdler respectively in Penn History. Timmins was a multiple time Heps scorer in the indoor 500m and the outdoor 400m hurdles- becoming runner up in 2015, a three-time NCAA East Prelim qualifier in the 400 hurdles and became the fifth fastest 400m hurdler in program history with a personal best of 51.18.
Dobson came to Philadelphia after taking over as the women's head coach at Montclair State University in 2009. In three years, Coach Dobson's Red Hawks boasted a national champion and an NCAA runner -up, a Regional Track Athlete of the Year, two NCAA All-Americans, four individual national championship appearances, five national qualifiers, 11 school records, 20 conference champions, one NJAC Most Outstanding Athlete of the Year, three NJAC Track Athletes of the Year, four NJAC Rookies of the Year, two Montclair State Athlete of the Year awards and two USTFCCCA Academic All-America honors in addition to five NJAC honor roll selections and over 75 all-conference honors.
In just her second season, Dobson was recognized by her peers as the NJAC Outdoor Coach of the Year for the 2011 season.
In 2012, Dobson led the Red Hawks to their highest finish ever with fourth place showings at the indoor and outdoor conference championships. Dobson also guided sophomore Heather Gearity to a Division III national championship in the 400-meter hurdles after previously leading her to a runner-up finish in the same event in 2011. Gearity, a two-time All American and USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year, was the number one ranked 400-hurdler and held the ninth-fastest 400-hurdle time in DIII history. An eight-time NJAC Champion, Gearity holds two NJAC meet records and five school records. Dobson also had the 2010 and 2011 NJAC Rookies of the Year combined for a total of four NCAA appearances and a highest individual finish of 11th at the final championships.
In 2011, Dobson’s 4x400 relay team, consisting of Patterson, Ellis, Michelle McNulty and Gearity, became the best in Montclair State and NJAC Championship meet history. The relay also surfaced the national scene, becoming one of the best among all DIII colleges and universities. The 4x400 relay team, which set the outdoor NJAC record, became indoor and outdoor NJAC Champions for the first time in over 10 years. The team also broke the 19-year old indoor and 23-year-old outdoor school record. During the outdoor regular season, the 4x400 relay team was undefeated head to head against all Division III schools.
Prior to Montclair State, Dobson served as a volunteer assistant at Seton Hall University where she worked primarily with the hurdlers in 2008-2009. At the 2009 Penn Relays, Dobson led the shuttle hurdle relay to a first-place finish in the ECAC section and third overall in the Championship of America.
One of the top hurdlers in the history of New Jersey high school track and field, Dobson took her talents to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served three years as a team captain for the Tar Heels. She received All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors as she helped UNC to two ACC Championships. Dobson was a finalist in the 2006 Millrose Games as she etched her name into UNC records books among the top five hurdlers in school history. As a versatile athlete, Dobson also showcased her talent as a staple on the 4x400 relay team.
Dobson dominated the high school scene at Kent Place School in Summit, N.J., where she was a multiple All-American Nee Jersey State Champion and Athlete of the Year. In 2003 Dobson was runner up in the 60m hurdles at the national championships, ranked number one in the state of New Jersey and fifth in the U.S. During that outdoor season, she was U.S. number two and ranked seventh in the world in the 100 meter hurdles. She still remains as the third fastest hurdler in NJ history, holding the NJ senior class 100m hurdle record, and owning the second fastest NJ State Meet of Championships mark in the 100m hurdles. With impressive performances in the 200m and 400m, Dobson was featured in Track and Field News as one of the nation’s top sprints and hurdles recruits in 2003.
Dobson earned her degree in Communications and Media studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2008. Originally from Roselle, N.J., Dobson currently resides in Philadelphia.
