Mason Teague, Staff Writer
A ton of athletes across different sports tell about how they have always loved playing their sport ever since they were a little kid. In the case of junior women’s track & field student-athlete Hannah Hinson of Suffolk, Va., being a thrower began during her freshman year in high school.
At a football game her freshman year, Hinson was approached by a P.E. teacher, who encouraged her to come out for throwing on the school’s track & field team that spring. She decided to take the chance and try out, which proved to be one of the best choices she ever made.
“I immediately fell in love with throwing when I started,” says Hinson. “It felt really natural from the beginning and I knew that it was something that I wanted to get good at.”
Hinson threw discus and shotput all four years of high school at Kings Fork High, and decided her senior year to pursue her passion at the collegiate level at Wingate. The transition from throwing in high school to college, however, was a lot more difficult than she anticipated.
“It was definitely a big change in terms of the different training styles between high school and college, as well as how much more the coaching staff at Wingate demands of you than high school coaches,” says Hinson.“But the coaches at Wingate have pushed me to be better every day since I’ve been here, which really helped me to get used to everything very quickly.”
Hinson throws hammer, discus and shotput for the outdoor and indoor Women’s Track & Field team, and has had a large amount of success in the two years she has participated. She broke the school record for indoor hammer throw, also known as weight throw, at the JDL Fast Track Meet in 2016, as well as winning All-SAC honors for hammer throw (2016, 2017) and discus (2017).
As she continues to challenge herself each season, Hinson has created two personal goals for herself during her junior season.
“I want to be the first thrower in Wingate history to make Nationals for indoor this year,” says Hinson. “I also want to win discus and hammer throw in the SAC for outdoor this year.”
As the new season begins, Hinson sees a lot of potential for her team as they compete against other schools in the SAC conference.
“We challenge each other every day by competing against one another to be the best at our sport out of the entire team,” Hinson says.“I believe that this healthy competition is going to help us when we compete against other throwers because we will already have that competitive edge that we give one another on the team.”
Edited by Brendan Shriver
Wingate Triangle 