John Pickhaver begins his third season at LMU for the 2025-2026 racing season. Pickhaver begins his second coaching stint on the bluff after serving as a cross country and track assistant from 2014-2016 under former head coach Scott Guerrero. He also served as a student-athlete from 2013-2014 while pursuing his masters degree at LMU.
“Pick,” as he is known to many, has a diverse background that began as a graduate of Villanova University in 2013 with a degree in political science and government. He also was a member of the cross country, indoor and outdoor track teams where he was named a Big East Academic All-Star for three consecutive years.
Since his time as a Wildcat, Pickhaver has served in many roles related to film and television, including time with NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and HuffPost.
He also spent some time on the Bluff earning a M.F.A in Writing and Production for Television.
It was during this time at LMU that he was a graduate assistant and assistant coach for the LMU cross country and track programs, a role that he returns to under head coach Chloe Curtis.
He was primarily responsible for recruiting in his time as an assistant, and brought in strong classes in 2014-16, including Koby Pederson, LMU’s top male cross country student-athlete in history.
“I’m thrilled to welcome John Pickhaver back to the bluff as our full time assistant coach. He has a deep passion for the sport and helping athletes get better, and having been teammates when we both ran at LMU, I know we will be able to complement each other well. Pick has already made a tremendous impact in his first couple of weeks working with the team, and I am excited to see what we can accomplish together!” said head coach Chloe Curtis.
Pickhaver has registered over 40,000 miles in the last 15 years as a runner and was the top American finisher at the 2018 LA Marathon. He also holds the course record in the yearly El Segundo Run for Education road race and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the coaching staff. He also still holds real estate on the LMU leaderboards, ranking ninth all time in the 10,000 meters and 14th all time in the 5,000 meters.
