Roosevelt Lofton - Track & Field Coach - Mercer University Athletics

Roosevelt Lofton

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
lofton_r@mercer.edu
Phone:
(478) 301-2144

Roosevelt Lofton was announced as Mercer's head women's track and field coach on November 11, 2019 and will begin his fourth season during the 2023 Spring season

In the 2022 Spring season, the Bears claimed medals in three competitions in the SoCon Championships. Freshman Ariel Raggs finished second in the 400-meter hurdles and was named to the SoCon All-Freshman team for the 100 and 400-meter hurdles. Davis' time of 1:00:36 in the 400-meter hurdles set a school record.

Tara Davis finished third in the 400-meter dash at the SoCon Championships. The Mercer 'A' relay team finished third in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:50:88. It marked the fourth fastest 4x400 relay time in school history. In the 2022 season, the Bears were named to the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Track & Field All-Academic Teams. It was the third consecutive year the program earned the recognition.

Numerous records fell in Lofton’s second season in charge of the track & field program. Six different athletes – Cherrish Wright, Lauryn Dancy, Carlandra Jones, Tara Davis, Ashley McMahon and Marina Van Sickle – set a total of 30 top-10 times in the program’s record books. Wright set a trio of program records at the SoCon Championships, running the 100-meter dash in 11.63 seconds, the 100-meter hurdles in 13.70 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 23.88 seconds. Wright won the 100 and 200-meter dashes and finished second in the 100-meter hurdles. Wright now owns all 10 of the slots in the 100-meter hurdles fastest times category. She earned a pair of major awards at the conclusion of the 2021 SoCon Championships, claiming the title of Most Outstanding Female Athlete with 28 points and also earning Female Most Outstanding Track Performer honors when the league office announced the specialty awards, as voted on by the conference’s head coaches.

In addition to Wright, Jones and Ashley McMahon also set program records in 2021. Jones shaved off more than 0.5 seconds off her previous 400-meter dash record at the SoCon Championships, blowing away the competition and claiming the gold medal with a record-setting time of 54.74 seconds. McMahon became the program’s new record holder in the 10K, doing so at the Spikes Classic and later breaking her own record at the league championships. McMahon, who also had a stellar cross country season, ran the 10K during outdoor track season in 37:57.42 at the Spikes Classic and later beat her time at the SoCon Championships. At the championships, she finished eighth in a stacked field, crossing the line in 34:54.96.

In all, Wright led the way, claiming six of Mercer’s 13 victories (including preliminaries) with three wins each in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Jones was second on the squad with four victories, all of which came in the 400-meter dash. Her four victories were the most in a single event in 2021. McMahon also won the 200-meter steeplechase at the UCF Black & Gold Invite and the 10K at the Embry-Riddle Spikes Classic. The quartet of Wright, Dancy, Kennedi Weston-Shields and Ceylani Rembert, posted the Bears’ lone relay triumph of the season with a time of 48.84 seconds at the Spikes Classic in April.

Lofton's first season as head coach was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Bears were still able to get on the track at the Jaguar Open hosted by South Alabama. Mercer shined in the one-day meet with five individual victories, as well as a team win in the 4x100-meter relay. Mercer's individual wins came in the long jump, 100-meter dash and hurdles, 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash. Perhaps the most impressive showing came in the 400-meter event as the Bears, led by race winner Carlandra Jones, swept the first five finishing positions.

Prior to coming to Mercer, Lofton had most recently spent time as an assistant at The Citadel.

Lofton spent three years as the Charleston Southern University head men's track and field coach, arriving at CSU in September 2013 with a stellar and extensive coaching resume.

In his first season as head coach at Charleston Southern, Lofton helped mentor junior sprinter Braxton Drummond to both Indoor and Outdoor First Team All-American status in the long jump. Drummond finished seventh in the NCAA Indoor Championship and fifth in the outdoor championship, earning the second highest combined finish among the four athletes able to place in the top-eight in both events. Drummond set numerous Big South Conference records over the course of the year and leaped to ninth-place showing at June's USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.

Drummond continued to shine during the indoor season of Roosevelt's second year at CSU, in 2014-15. Drummond earned a spot in the USA Track & Field Championships, and finished fifth in the long jump at the meet of the nation's elite. He set yet another Big South Conference record in the long jump at January's Virginia Tech Invitational, jumping 7.82 meters to best his own league mark by 0.11 meters.

Lofton arrived at Charleston Southern after a successful four-year run as head coach at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He led Abilene Christian to two national championships and five Lone Star Conference championships during his tenure, and was named NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2011.

Lofton directed Abilene Christian to the Division II men’s outdoor national title in 2011, marking the high point of a stretch where the Wildcats captured three consecutive Lone Star Conference championships. Abilene Christian also enjoyed great success in 2013, claiming the men’s and women’s indoor conference championships.

Lofton led the women’s outdoor track program at Abilene Christian to three straight runner-up finishes in the Lone Star Conference from 2010-2012. The Wildcats’ cross country program also flourished under his watch, claiming the Lone Star Conference championship in 2010.

Lofton has also spent time at Virginia Tech, Northern Arizona and Grambling State. Lofton was the head women’s track and field coach at Virginia Tech from 1999-2001 and piloted the men’s and women’s programs at Grambling State from 1987-1996.

While at Virginia Tech, Lofton’s teams excelled in the Atlantic 10 Conference, with the women’s program earning league titles in the 1998 and 2000 outdoor seasons, as well as the 1999 indoor season.

From 2001-2009, Lofton spent time outside of collegiate athletics and focused on working with both area youth and professional athletes in Texas and Arizona as an intervention counselor, track and field coach, speed and agility coach and high school district athletic coach. One of Lofton’s speed and agility athletes was former NFL defensive end Simeon Rice, a three-time Super Bowl competitor and four-time All-Pro with the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Lofton earned his masters of science in sports administration from Grambling State in 1988, and won three conference titles during his nine years at the helm. He also has experience on the national scene, as he served as head men’s track and field coach for the United States Olympic Festival South Team in 1995, and was an assistant for the squad in 1993.

Lofton has coached six Olympians, 11 USA National qualifiers, 14 NCAA National Champions, 16 conference championship teams, 92 NCAA All-Americans, and five times has been honored as a conference coach of the year.

Lofton is certified as a Level I and II coach by USA Track and Field Coaches Education Program in sprints, hurdles and relays. He is also a Certified Club Coach by USA Weightlifting, and a Certified Performance Enhancement Specialist by National Academy of Sports Medicine.

A native of New York City, Lofton received his B.A. in communications from Temple University (1983). In 1988 he added a M.S. in Sports Administration from Grambling State University. Lofton has two children, Kamaren and Khristian.