Southern Virginia University

Hannah Pinkston enters her third season as an assistant coach for the men's and women's track teams working primarily with the hurdlers.

Last year was a banner year for hurdlers under Pinkston’s direction. During the Indoor season Pinkston guided Riley Heward to the Atlantic Indoor Championship in the women’s 60 hurdles, three scoring men in the same championship with Nicko Del Pontone finishing 3rd, and school records in the 60m hurdles by Heward and Darren Rice.

In the outdoor campaign Pinkston developed additional athletes in the women’s 100 hurdles with Folole Torres joining Heward as a conference point-scorer and Abigail Kinoshita earning the #3 spot on the SVU Top 10 list with her mark in the Heptathlon.  Three men earned a spot on the SVU top 10 list led by Skylar Johnson at #2 who also earned All-Conference Honors at the Outdoor Championships.

In the 400 Hurdles Pinkston saw her athletes have great success with four women scoring in the conference final led by Torres who finished in 3^rd place who holds the school record by .06 seconds over teammate Savanna Chapin. The men’s 400 hurdles were almost as deep with four individuals earning an SVU top 10 mark - and three of them scoring in the conference final, led by conference champion and new conference meet record holder, Daniel de la Cruz.

Prior to coming to Southern Virginia, Pinkston was a sprints and hurdles coach at Simi Valley High School in California, where she coached for five years. Her hurdlers have been Coastal Canyon League Champions, Ventura County Champions, CIF SS DII top 3, and CA State Champions in the 100-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, and 300-meter hurdles.

Pinkston has run competitively for 13 years, including being a varsity team captain her junior and senior years of high school.

Pinkston graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling from BYU-Idaho, and earned an M.S. in Professional Counseling from Grand Canyon State University.

Hannah and her husband, Brad, reside in Buena Vista with their sons, Everett and Thomas