Huskies' Hooker is 6th in 200 meters and Predmore Places 7th in Decathlon at NCAA Track Meet
June 3, 2000
Box Score
DURHAM, N.C. - Washington junior Ja'Warren Hooker raced to a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash and senior Jacob Predmore registered a seventh-place decathlon performance on Saturday during the final day of the NCAA track and field championships at Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium.
Stanford amassed 72 points to win the men's team competition followed by Arkansas with a second-place score of 59. The Washington men had 8.5 points to tie for 28th. Louisiana State spoiled a Pacific-10 Conference sweep of the team titles, edging runner-up USC 58-54 to claim the women's championship. Washington tied for 66th among women's teams with one point.
The championship meet was halted shortly after Hooker's race due to a severe thunderstorm warning. The 12,825 spectators cleared the stadium while athletes and coaches were sheltered in nearby Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke's basketball arena. The competition resumed 1 hour and 43 minutes later, at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time after some brief thunder showers.
The only Husky athlete affected by the stoppage was senior Dave Bazzi whose men's 5,000-meter race was the next event on the schedule at the time of the storm delay.
A graduate of Seattle's O'Dea High School, Bazzi was the final individual to compete in the 12-athlete contingent that was Washington's largest at an NCAA championship meet since 1990. He posted a 12th-place time of 14 minutes, 20.29 seconds in the 5,000-meter run that was contested under a steady rain.
In the 200-meter dash, Clemson's Shawn Crawford erupted from the blocks and led the entire way en route to a winning time of 20.09. Auburn's Coby Miller was second in 20.12 while 100-meter champion Bernard Williams of Florida placed third in 20.28.
Hooker, who entered with the sixth-fastest semifinal mark, recorded a time of 20.78. He finished just behind of pair of Texas Christian sprinters, Darvis Patton (20.59) and Ricardo Williams (20.67).
"In a meet like this you have to be pretty sharp and I wasn't my sharpest," Hooker explained. "I could have run a better corner, I could have had a better straight-away and I could have had a better start. There are numerous things that you can always do to make it better. Today, I ran the best that I was going to run for that race and I couldn't ask for anything more."
A product of Ellensburg (Wash.) High School, Hooker completed an award-winning collegiate season with his third All-America award. He earned two All-America certificates during the indoor season, placing sixth in both the 60- and 200-meter events at the NCAA championships in March.
Hooker won the 100 and 200 at the Pacific-10 Conference meet, repeating the feat he first accomplished in 1998. He made his mark on the Washington record book, adding the school's 200 (20.23) and 400 (44.91) standards to the 100-meter mark (10.18) that he established in 1998.
The next meet for Hooker is the United States Olympic Trials, July 14-23 in Sacramento, Calif. He will participate in the 200- and 400-meter competitions, seeking a berth to the Summer Olympics during September in Sydney, Australia. The top three 200-meter finishers at the Trials will earn Olympic berths. From six to eight of the top 400-meter performers will earn berths on the U.S. Olympic Team, including five athletes who will train for the 1,600-meter relay.
California's Bevan Hart won the decathlon championship with an 8,002-point tally. Claston Bernard of Louisiana State placed second with 7,806 points followed by Tennessee athletes Boris Kawohl (7,788) and Stephen Harris (7,651). Oregon's Santiago Lorenzo finished fifth with 7,543 points and Curtis Pugsley of Brigham Young was sixth with a score of 7,531.
Predmore improved his career-best total by 20 points with a score of 7,426 that is the fifth-highest decathlon total in Washington history. He vaulted from eighth to sixth place during the final event with a personal-best time of 4:24.58 in the 1,500 meters. Predmore took the lead early and held on to finish second, shaving over five seconds off his previous-best time of 4:29.52.
Predmore overtook Fresno State's Scott Wenholz and Aaron Moser of Miami who were in sixth and eighth place, respectively, in the overall standings entering the 1,500. Predmore's time was nearly 20 seconds faster than Moser and 1:08 better than Wenholz.
"I knew I could run well in the 1,500 and I was trying to get the guy from BYU, but he ran well enough to hold sixth place," explained Predmore, a graduate of Duvall's Cedarcrest High School. "When I came in I was hoping to score 7,600 if not better, but I'm happy with it. I've got no complaints at all."
Predmore was in sixth entering the second day of competition and immediately moved into fifth place following the sixth event. He posted the fastest 110-meter hurdle clocking among decathletes, a time of 14.67.
Following the next two events, admittedly Predmore's weakest, he dropped to ninth place. He heaved the discus 116 feet, 7 inches and equaled his season best effort by clearing 13-9 1/4 in the pole vault, but those marks fell well short of several other competitors.
Predmore had a mark of 172-5 in the javelin to maintain his ninth-place position and set up his final-event heroics.
During the two-day competition, Predmore registered career-best performances in three events. Along with the 1,500 meters (4:24.58), he improved personal-best marks in the 100 meters (11.27) and shot put (42-8) during first-day action.
Seven Washington athletes collected All-America honors during the four-day championships, including Hooker and Predmore. Also garnering All-America awards were Justin St. Clair in the men's javelin (sixth), Sesilia Thomas in the women's discus (eighth), Matt Phillips in the men's pole vault (eighth), Anna Aoki in the women's 10,000 meters (ninth) and Ben Lindsey in the men's discus (11th),
