Women's Track and Field preview: NCAA Outdoor Championships
June 8, 2009 Complete NCAA Championships preview MEET INFORMATION LONGHORNS HEAD TO FAYETTEVILLE ... Eight members of The University of Texas Women's Track and Field team head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Arkansas' John McDonnell Field Wed.-Sat., June 10-13. CBS TO AIR CHAMPIONSHIPS ... Follow all the action from the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships live on CBS and NCAA.com. CBS is schedule to go live from John McDonnell Track Friday, June 12 from 6-9 p.m. Central on CBS College Sports and on Saturday June 13 from 12-2 p.m. on CBS. Live streaming will also be available on NCAA.com when CBS is not live from the track. HOOKER DOMINANCE... Junior Destinee Hooker will look to cap off her reign as the top high jumper in the nation this season as she will compete for her third NCAA Outdoor National Title. The 2006 and 2007 high jump champion most recently became the second female high jumper in Big 12 history to collect six Big 12 Titles as she claimed the 2009 league crown with a meet record and nation-leading clearance of 6-4.75 (1.95m). Hooker's winning height also ties her for the fifth on the world list. After taking a year off to train with USA Volleyball, Hooker has made herself the high jumper to beat this year after winning the NCAA Indoor Championship in demanding fashion with an NCAA record clearance of 6-6, breaking a nine-year old collegiate indoor record and an 11-year Texas indoor record. HOOKER LOOKING TO MAKE HISTORY ... The junior already made Big 12 history this year as she moved her league crown total to six making her just the second Big 12 high jumper to accomplish the feat. Hooker will now look to become just the second female high jumper in NCAA Division I history to win three outdoor high jump titles. Tanya Hughes (Arizona) earned three-straight crowns from 1991-1993 while four other athletes - including Hooker - have two titles to their names. NATION LEADERS ... Texas has two national leaders on its eight-person roster travelling to Arkansas in junior Destinee Hooker (high jump) and senior Alexandria Anderson (100m). The Longhorns are one of just three teams nationally have two or more athletes top the nation in their respective events, joining Florida State (2) and Texas A&M (2). ANDERSON SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST... Texas women's track and field senior Alexandria Anderson has already etched her name in the UT record books in the 100m but saved her fastest running for her final meets as a Longhorn. Anderson bettered her previous personal-best (11.09) in the event in the preliminaries at the NCAA Midwest Regional as she clocked an 11.07, the third fastest time in UT history. She then returned to the track the following day to top that time with an 11.05 for first place. Her two marks at the Regional both topped her previous nation-leading time of 11.09 and her 11.05 is tied for fifth in the world this season. ANDERSON THE ALL-AMERICAN ... UT women's track has its fair share of household names in its record books with the latest to join being Alexandria Anderson. After earning three All-America honors at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships, the senior moved her career total to 17, tying her for the second-most in UT history. Anderson joins Suziann Reid (1996-99) with 17 and sits behind Carlette Guidry who holds the UT record with 23 All-America accolades during her four year career on the Forty Acres (1988-91). Anderson has also placed in the 100m at the national meet every year since arriving on the Forty Acres. ANDERSON GETS HER MEDAL ... Senior Alexandria Anderson claimed her first Big 12 100m title last weekend at the 2009 league meet in Lubbock (May 17). The sprinter clocked an 11.25 for her first title after finishing second for the last three years. Anderson, the nation's leader in the event, outlasted second-ranked Porscha Lucas, (Texas A&M), third-ranked Tiffany Townsend (Baylor) and fourth-ranked Gabby Mayo for the win. FROM WALK-ON TO ALL-AMERICAN... Junior shot putter Jordyn Brown has come along way since going into Assistant Coach Rose Brimmer's office and asking to walk on to the UT Track and Field Team. Since joining the squad in 2006, Brown has gone on to garner six All-Big 12 honors and earned her first All-America accolade with a fourth-place finish in the shot put at the 2009 National Indoor meet. After winning the NCAA Midwest Regional with a season-best throw of 54-4.75 (16.58m), Brown ranks 7th in the nation in the event and will look to improve upon her 15th place showing at NCAAs a year ago. MALONE MAKES FIRST TRIP TO NCAAS... Sophomore Chantel Malone earned her first bid to an NCAA Championship with a third-place finish in the long jump at the Midwest Regional. The 17-year old sophomore, who holds the British Virgin Islands junior record holder int he long jump, recorded a personal-best leap of 20-10.75 (6.37m) on her first jump to secure a spot at the 2009 Championship. Malone will also run a leg of the Longhorns' 4x400m relay. COOPER COMING OF AGE ... If you look at her running marks, you wouldn't guess that Angele Cooper is just a freshman on the Longhorns squad. Cooper is running like a seasoned vet and proved it with her fourth-place showing in the 400m hurdles at the NCAA Midwest Regional, advancing her to her first NCAA Outdoor Championships. Cooper, who had never run the event prior to arriving at Texas, posted the fastest-preliminary time with a season-best of 58.18 and then followed up with a 58.18 in the finals to become the first freshman to advance to the national meet since Alexandria Anderson qualified in 2006. A CHECK OF THE RANKINGS ... After starting the 2009 outdoor season with a No. 14 ranking by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America (USTFCCCA), the Longhorns have climbed up to the No. 10 spot heading into the national meet. Here's a look at how Texas has fared in the USTFCCCA poll this season:
HOOKER HONORED BY USTFCCCA...AGAIN ... Junior high jumper Destinee Hooker garnered her second USTFCCCA accolade of the 2009 season as she was named the South Central Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year. After her record-setting performance at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Meet, the organization also honored Hooker by naming her the Division I Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. KEARNEY HONORED BY BCA... Head coach Beverly Kearney added to her already staggering list of awards after being named the Black Coaches & Administrator's 2009 Female Coach of the Year. During the recent 2009 Indoor season, Kearney took her team from a No. 15 national ranking to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Despite having only seven individuals on her roster competing at the meet, the Horns earned eight All-America honors, one individual national title in high jumper Destinee Hooker, and their second straight top-five finish at the Championships.
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