Track and Field
Hightower, Dave
Dave Hightower
- Title:
- Assistant Coach | Sprints, Relays
- Phone:
- 719-333-9501
Dave Hightower is in his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Air Force track and field team, after joining the program in October 2021. A nine-time conference champion as a collegian, Hightower oversees the Falcons’ sprint and relay athletes, who have accounted for nine Academy Records during his first three years.
During his first season at the Academy, Hightower coached his athletes to a pair of Mountain West titles and three additional all-conference finishes, as Air Force swept the MW Indoor and Outdoor team titles. His sprinters also accounted for 20 improvements to Air Force’s all-time top 10, with the women recording two of the program’s four-fastest outdoor 200-meter times in the program’s outdoor history and four of the 10-fastest indoor times.
The success of the sprint squad continued into 2023, as he coached Javin Bostic to a Mountain West title in the 100-meter dash and Academy Records in both the 60-meter and 100-meter events – with the latter time of 10.23 being the fastest ever run by a service academy athlete. His athletes made six improvements to the program’s all-time top-five during both the indoor and outdoor seasons, while the men accounted for four all-conference honors – including podium finishes for all three of his relay teams – as Air Force swept the MW team titles for the second-straight year.
Eight Academy Records were reset by Hightower’s athletes in 2024, including the women’s 4x400-meter mark that had stood for 40 years. Taylor Rioux headlined the squad’s record book rewrite, setting individual Academy standards in the 200-meter (indoor/outdoor) and 400-meter (indoor) events, while running on all three of the women’s record-setting sprint relays – including the 3:41.09 performance in the 4x400-meter relay that became the fastest by a service academy team after resetting Air Force’s previous 1984 mark. Hightower also saw Bostic qualify to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second-straight year and pick up another pair of all-conference accolades to help the men capture their third-straight MW Outdoor title.
Hightower joined the Air Force program after spending eight years as the sprints, hurdles, and jumps coach at Loyola University Maryland. During his tenure in Baltimore, Hightower coached the Greyhounds to the program’s first ECAC qualifiers in the sprints and hurdles, a conference champion in the 400-meter hurdles, ECAC All-East honors in the 4x400-meter run (2017-18 indoor, 2019 outdoor), 400-meter dash (2019 outdoor) and 400-meter hurdles (2019 outdoor), and 18 new Loyola records.
Hightower began his coaching career as a volunteer at Yale University during the 2013-14 season. Working with the Bulldogs’ sprint and hurdles program, he assisted in the coaching of an ECAC runner-up in the pentathlon. He has also worked with sprinters and hurdlers during sports camps around the East Coast.
As a collegian, Hightower was a nine-time Metro Atlantic Conference champion and NCAA East Regional qualifier for Rider University. A two-time team captain, he set the school record in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.93. Hightower was also a seven-time Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of American (IC4A) qualifier and claimed top-10 finishes in that event three years in a row.
Hightower graduated from Rider in 2013 with a degree in public relations and a minor in English.
During his first season at the Academy, Hightower coached his athletes to a pair of Mountain West titles and three additional all-conference finishes, as Air Force swept the MW Indoor and Outdoor team titles. His sprinters also accounted for 20 improvements to Air Force’s all-time top 10, with the women recording two of the program’s four-fastest outdoor 200-meter times in the program’s outdoor history and four of the 10-fastest indoor times.
The success of the sprint squad continued into 2023, as he coached Javin Bostic to a Mountain West title in the 100-meter dash and Academy Records in both the 60-meter and 100-meter events – with the latter time of 10.23 being the fastest ever run by a service academy athlete. His athletes made six improvements to the program’s all-time top-five during both the indoor and outdoor seasons, while the men accounted for four all-conference honors – including podium finishes for all three of his relay teams – as Air Force swept the MW team titles for the second-straight year.
Eight Academy Records were reset by Hightower’s athletes in 2024, including the women’s 4x400-meter mark that had stood for 40 years. Taylor Rioux headlined the squad’s record book rewrite, setting individual Academy standards in the 200-meter (indoor/outdoor) and 400-meter (indoor) events, while running on all three of the women’s record-setting sprint relays – including the 3:41.09 performance in the 4x400-meter relay that became the fastest by a service academy team after resetting Air Force’s previous 1984 mark. Hightower also saw Bostic qualify to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second-straight year and pick up another pair of all-conference accolades to help the men capture their third-straight MW Outdoor title.
Hightower joined the Air Force program after spending eight years as the sprints, hurdles, and jumps coach at Loyola University Maryland. During his tenure in Baltimore, Hightower coached the Greyhounds to the program’s first ECAC qualifiers in the sprints and hurdles, a conference champion in the 400-meter hurdles, ECAC All-East honors in the 4x400-meter run (2017-18 indoor, 2019 outdoor), 400-meter dash (2019 outdoor) and 400-meter hurdles (2019 outdoor), and 18 new Loyola records.
Hightower began his coaching career as a volunteer at Yale University during the 2013-14 season. Working with the Bulldogs’ sprint and hurdles program, he assisted in the coaching of an ECAC runner-up in the pentathlon. He has also worked with sprinters and hurdlers during sports camps around the East Coast.
As a collegian, Hightower was a nine-time Metro Atlantic Conference champion and NCAA East Regional qualifier for Rider University. A two-time team captain, he set the school record in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.93. Hightower was also a seven-time Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of American (IC4A) qualifier and claimed top-10 finishes in that event three years in a row.
Hightower graduated from Rider in 2013 with a degree in public relations and a minor in English.
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