Whitney Hooks is used to being the frontrunner that constantly fends off expectations and upstarts.
But every once in a while Hooks gladly sheds her role as The Hunted and becomes The Hunter.
She loves every minute of it.
“I enjoy that. I’d rather be the underdog than the person who’s being chased,” said Hooks.
It shows. Last June, Hooks, a top-notch shot put and discus thrower from Cascade High School, was seeded fourth in an elite field at the prestigious Golden West Invitational in Sacramento. The four-time Class 4A state champion is favored in nearly every meet she enters, but the unfamiliar underdog role suited her just fine.
Hooks launched a personal-best shot put of 49 feet, 2 inches at the Golden West to place second, just 10 inches behind the winner, Stephanie Horton. Horton, a Tigard, Ore., native, now throws for Kansas.
“That was a great experience for me. … That’s one of the main reasons I hit that mark, because I was pushed mentally and physically,” Hooks said.
“You could see it on her face. She was really excited,” said Cascade track and field coach Bill Stengele, who attended the Golden West meet.
Hooks, now a Cascade senior and a University of Washington recruit, called the Sacramento performance the highlight of last year. It’s one of many reasons she’s a finalist for The Herald’s 2005 Woman of the Year in Sports award.
Before her breakthrough in California, Hooks won her third straight shot put title (46-7) and her first discus championship (145-6) at the 4A state meet in Pasco. Hooks had immediate success in the shot put, but her rise in the discus was more gradual – and more maddening.
” (Discus) was a little up and down for me in the beginning, but it started to get more consistent in the end,” Hooks said, “so I started to have a lot more fun with it.”
“I still don’t like discus,” she added, “but I tolerate it.”
So while the shot feels natural in Hooks’ powerful right arm, the discus is a patience-tester. But no matter what, Hooks’ uncommon drive and intensity remains robust. “She has tremendous courage and … it’s amazing. She just brings it,” Stengele said.
And on the rare occasion Hooks isn’t the favorite, look out. Stengele said Hooks is “fearless as a competitor and she actually likes having that extra adrenaline (rush) of beating someone as the underdog, which is pretty rare.”
Hooks wants to have a strong freshman season at Washington (she also considered offers from Texas Tech, California, Arizona State and UCLA). Then she hopes to compete in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. By 2012, she aims to win it all.
But as Hooks’ throwing career continues to bring accolades and nationwide praise, she wants to make one thing clear: She’s more than a highly skilled athlete.
“I’m just like a normal person like everyone else, going through struggles, family problems, trying to get through school and being the best person I can (be) on and off the field,” Hooks said.
“Even though I want to leave Cascade as a good thrower,” she added, “I don’t always want to be known as Whitney ‘The Shot Putter’ Hooks. I want to be known as just Whitney Hooks.”
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