Hooker scores unusual double - Texas Relays Days 1-3
Destinee Hooker winning at the Texas Relays (Kirby Lee)
relnews
Austin, Texas, USA - Destinee Hooker scored an unusual double at the Texas Relays on Friday (3).
First, she cleared a world outdoor-leading 1.92m to win the women’s High Jump. Then, as she was walking off the track, she was confronted by her boyfriend, Clifton Gay, who knelt in front of her, offered her a 1.5-carat diamond ring, and asked her to marry him.
Ms. Hooker did what any sensible young woman would do in such a situation: she burst into tears. A few minutes later, as she wiped the tears away, she said, “Yes.”
"This was the perfect place," said the 1.93 tall native of nearby San Antonio. "My team's here, my family's here, this was perfect." The family, of course, includes big sister Marshevet, who finished fifth in the Beijing Olympic 200 metres.
Ms. Hooker, who skipped athletics in 2008 while trying to make the U.S. Olympic volleyball team, has returned with a vengeance. Three weeks ago she won the NCAA indoor title for the University of Texas with a 1.98m clearance, making her the eight highest American jumper ever, indoors or out.
Samantha Henry (JAM) of Louisiana State also posted a world-leading mark when she led the qualifiers for the women’s 100m with 11.21 (+1.6), just ahead of Tiffany Townsend and Jessica Young, who ran 11.24; Townsend’s was aided by a 2.2 tailwind, while Young’s was O.K. at +1.6.
Long range, perhaps the best performance of the day was in the high school Pole Vault. 19-year-old Jack Whitt of Norman, Oklahoma, cleared 5.49m, which puts him sixth on the world list so far, and had three good efforts at 5.57m. Whitt,who has been jumping for five years, plans to attend Oral Roberts University, where he will be coached by Joe Dial, the No. 1 U.S. vaulter in 1985 and nationally ranked for 10 years.
The women’s Discus Throw was won by D’Andra Carter, whose winning throw of 55.08m was not as important as the fact that it was the 17th Texas Relays championship won by the remarkable Carter family. Miss Carter’s win here was her fourth, two as a high schooler and two as a university student; her sister Michelle, a 2008 U.S. Olympian in the Shot Put, won seven Relays titles in the shot and discus; and their father, the estimable Michael Carter, won six enroute to winning the 1984 Olympic silver medal in the Shot Put.
Friends of Michael will be happy to know that he has had successful knee replacements (both) and an equally successful right hip replacement and is spryer than he has been for years. “Now,” he says, “all I have to do is lose some weight.”
Thursday's results included a Decathlon victory by Camille Vandendriessche (FRA) whose score of 7531 points was perhaps worth more considering the difficult conditions (high winds), and a victory in the men's Hammer Throw by Marcel Lomnicky (SVK), who threw 71.70m.
James Dunaway for the IAAF