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Hooker facing Olympic champs; Former Southwest star has nerve-racking test at track trials J. Brady McCollough Sitting over his Fourth of July barbecue plate with his family,
Ricky Hooker could tell there was something different about
his oldest daughter, 19-year-old Marshevet Hooker. Ricky prodded Marshevet about what was wrong. "I'm not scared to run," Marshevet told him. "I'm just scared." Tonight when Hooker digs in her cleats in Sacramento, Calif., in the first round of the 100 competition, there will be plenty of reasons that Hooker could - and maybe should - be afraid. She'll be competing for the first time at the trials. It's her first chance to make a U.S. Olympic team. The meet starts today and runs through July 18. Others from San Antonio and South Texas with high hopes for a trip to Athens include 400-meter runner Darold Williamson and high jumpers Charles Austin and Amy Acuff. Austin, a San Marcos resident, won the gold medal in 1996. Both Austin and Acuff, who grew up in Corpus Christi, will be vying for their third-consecutive Olympic Games appearance. Hooker, a former Southwest High School star who just finished her freshman year at Texas, does have a frightening task ahead of her. When she lines up in her lane in the biggest race of her young life, Hooker will be trying to run faster than 29-year-old Marion Jones and 37-year-old Gail Devers, who have combined to win the last three gold medals in the event. "That's pretty hard for a 19-year-old not to be nervous," Ricky Hooker said. "It'd be hard for a 47-year-old to hold onto solid food." Entering the competition with the eighth-best time (11.14 seconds), Hooker will have to make it through the quarterfinals tonight, the semifinals on Saturday and then finish in the top six in the finals Saturday night to make the team. The sixth-best time this year was 11.05 seconds, so it's likely that Hooker will have to run a personal-best time in Sacramento to advance. "I haven't really set any limit on how fast I can go," Hooker said. Hooker has been working with UT coach Bev Kearney on her start out of the blocks, which hurt her in her third-place finish (11.23) at the NCAA championships in Austin. After Hooker told her father about her anxiety last weekend, he did his best to calm her nerves. "You're a freshman," he reminded her. "You've already exceeded expectations. Don't go there and add pressure to yourself. The pressure is going to be on those girls who are supposed to do something. "You run against Marshevet." There are heavier expectations on the broad shoulders of Williamson, the former Holmes sprinter who just finished his junior year at Baylor. Williamson enters the 400 trials with the third-best time of the year (44.51) and should make the team if he runs in the mid-44 range. But the problem for Williamson during his Baylor career has been consistency. In the NCAA finals, he placed sixth with a bloated time of 45.26. Later in the day, he paced Baylor's national title 1,600-meter relay team by running a 44.3. "I'm a natural relay runner," Williamson said. "I have the heart not to let anyone pass me and to go get anybody that's in front of me. I have a lot more confidence in the relay, and I'm more relaxed." Williamson received some advice about running the 400 open from Michael Johnson, the gold-medal winner in the 400 in 1996, who visited Baylor coach Clyde Hart in Waco last week. "In the 400, I stall around for the first 200 meters and wait for that kick, and I wait too late," Williamson said. "I have to have the confidence that I can take off early and have the strength. "If I run how I did this season, I believe I'll make the team."
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J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell) |
