4A Track and Field: Cascade\'s Hooks makes it four straight

May 28, 2006

By Michael Ko

Seattle Times staff reporter

RAJAH BOSE / TRI-CITY HERALD

Cascade\'s Whitney Hooks won her fourth consecutive state championship in the shot put Friday in Pasco, setting a meet record of 47 feet, 3 inches with her final throw.

PASCO — Whitney Hooks cemented her reputation in Washington track-and-field history by winning her fourth consecutive shot-put title on Friday, the first time any Class 4A athlete has won four state championships in a single event.

The senior at Cascade in Everett unleashed a heave of 47 feet, 3 inches on the last throw of the event, beating the meet record by an inch and a half.

\"I\'ve progressed so much as an athlete,\" said Hooks, who has a track scholarship to the University of Washington. \"For me to be able to go to college and get a further education and expand my knowledge through throwing the shot put and throwing the discus is amazing.

\"Without track, I\'d probably be going to community college and struggling to pay for that.\"

Still, Hooks wasn\'t entirely pleased. She described her day as \"good\" but not \"great.\" Before uncoiling the winning toss, Hooks had scratched on three of her five attempts.

\"I was too focused on the mark and not on my technique,\" said Hooks, referring to trying to reach 50 feet. She has thrown 49-2 this spring.

Hooks will try to win her second straight discus state title today.

The boys field also featured a record-setting performance.

Joey Bywater, a sophomore at Lake Stevens, won the boys 3,200-meter race in 9 minutes, 3.97 seconds, the fastest time ever for a 10th-grader.

Before last week\'s Northwest District meet — when he ran a 9:08.71 — Bywater said he had been hovering around the 9:30s.

\"I was still a little nervous about whether I could do it again or not,\" Bywater said. \"I guess it wasn\'t a fluke.\"

In the girls long jump, Amirah Karim, a senior at Franklin, outdueled Chanel James of Wilson, soaring a state-best 18-5 on her final attempt. The two were tied after five jumps and James jumped 17-10 ¾ on her final try.

\"I\'m an adrenaline jumper,\" said Karim, who will compete next for Portland State. \"Someone gets better than me, I\'ve got to get better than them.\"

Brittany Aanstad, a junior at Lake Stevens, won the 4A girls javelin title with a throw of 141-4.

Josh Winters, a senior at Bothell, had been favored to win the pole vault but placed second to Mount Spokane\'s Beau Carrillo.

Winters, who had jumped a state-best 15-9 coming into the event, was attempting to clear 15 feet when he brushed the bar with his chest on the way down. The bar quivered ever-so slightly before a gust of wind blew it off the pegs.

O\'Reilly breaks state record

Megan O\'Reilly, a senior from Mount Spokane, set a state record in the girls 3,200 in 10:05.81.

The previous record of 10:08.0 was set by Bellevue\'s Patty Matava in 1982.

\"I can\'t believe it,\" said O\'Reilly, a three-time 3,200 champion. \"It was just like I was on cloud nine. I was so focused. It was so fluid. Everything just clicked.\"