EVERETT – Originally, Whitney Hooks planned to bolt from familiar surroundings.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
A college scholarship, Hooks figured, was a ticket to some new, exciting destination – a place she could prove her independence and hone her athletic skill.
“I wanted to go as far away from home as possible,” said Hooks, a senior at Cascade High School who has won four Class 4A state championships (three in the shot put and one in the discus).
So this fall, as Hooks trimmed her list of collegiate suitors to Texas Tech, Cal, Arizona State and UCLA, the powerful prep standout was headed, it seemed, beyond state borders.
But at the last minute, Hooks had a change of heart.
Citing a newly bolstered coaching staff, improved facilities and proximity to her home – that’s right, close is OK after all – as important factors, Hooks signed an NCAA letter of intent Tuesday morning to compete for the University of Washington track and field team. Hooks announced her decision among a group of five family members, 12 friends and several coaches and Cascade staff members during a brief ceremony in the school’s career center.
“It was a last-minute thing,” Hooks said of accepting Washington’s scholarship offer. “It just felt really right.”
As Hooks gobbled a slice of chocolate cake that bore a fraction of the message “Congratulations Whitney! Go Dawgs!” she said Washington’s recent hiring of former Husky star Aretha Thurmond as a coach was central to her decision. Hooks said she instantly clicked with Thurmond, a two-time Olympic thrower and a 1998 UW alum previously known as Aretha Hill. (She married fellow thrower Reedus Thurmond last spring.)
For the first time in her prep career, Hooks will skip basketball this winter to focus on throwing. She plans to work with Aretha Thurmond at an upcoming camp and pursue her latest goals: qualifying for the Junior Olympics, and breaking the national girls high school outdoor shot put record (53 feet, 10.75 inches set by Michelle Carter of Red Oak, Texas, in May 2003, according to Track &Field News).
Cascade track coach Bill Stengele and Doug Kloke, the school’s athletic director, congratulated Hooks during the ceremony.
“You’ve handled (success) with grace,” Stengele said, “and you’re extremely humble. We’re fortunate as a school and as a track team, and me as a coach, to have such a great athlete.”
“Congratulations Whitney … and good luck in all the endeavors that life has in store for you,” Kloke said. “But remember – you’ll always be a Bruin.”
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