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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

UPDATED: DFW resident Marshevet Hooker proceeds to 200M semifinal in Beijing

By Pegasus News wire

Updated 11:46 p.m., August 21, 2008

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Marshevet Hooker, a University of Texas track and field standout and DFW resident, has qualified for the 200 meter semifinals in the Beijing Olympic games.

usatf.org

Marshevet Hooker

Hooker's best race is the 100 meter, but she failed to qualify in the U.S. trials. Setting her focus on the 200M, she barely edged out Lauryn Williams to get the third slot on the U.S. team. Hooker won her first round heat, taking third in the second round heat to qualify for the semifinals on Wednesday. Hooker will run out of lane nine and it's questionable whether she'll move on to the finals. Typically, lanes four, five, six, and seven are the favored lanes, reserved for the fastest qualifiers.

U.S. teammates Allyson Felix and Muna Lee both have their sights set on medals, as do Jamaican runners Sherone Simpson, and the Athens gold medalist in this event, Veronica Campbell-Brown. Garnering much of the attention is another contender, Roqaya Al-Gassra from Bahrain. Al-Gassra runs in a full length track suit that covers her hair in order to conform to her country's religious and cultural standards. She made her Olympic debut in the Athens 100M and will face Simpson, Felix, and Hooker in the 200M semifinal.

Marshevet Hooker trains in Arlington under 2000 Olympic gold medalist Jon Drummond. Drummond also coaches Tyson Gay, who failed to qualify for the 100M finals despite being a medal favorite.

UPDATE: Marshevet qualified for the finals, which take place on Thursday.

UPDATE x2: No medal for Marshevet. Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown took the gold pretty easily.

Posted by Erin

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Comments

Collin Gouldin

Collin Gouldin Verified

must..... resist .....

3 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Erin Rice

Erin Rice Staff

Watching the race just now, Marshevet made a rookie mistake in letting up too soon, taking third place in her second round heat. She was easily in the lead, but let it go in the last 20 meters putting her in lane nine in the semifinal.

Those familiar with the 200 meter race know that lane nine isn't exactly desirable. You start on the curve ahead of the pack, meaning you don't even see your competitors until everyone comes around the curve. It takes a really experienced runner to run at full speed "blind" like that. Hopefully she'll be able to get through the round.

I'm guessing this isn't interesting to non-T&F buffs, so thanks for bearing with me. Track nerd, second only to soccer.

3 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Collin Gouldin

Collin Gouldin Verified

erin, did you see lolo's race?

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

ConsiderThis Anonymous

Erin...

Those familiar with the 200 meter race also know that for someone as tall as Marshevet, the outside lanes serve her better. She qualified for the Olympics the Trials out of Lane 8.

Had she not "let the lead go" she would've been in the first heat where 3 women went sub 22.3...blazing for a final, let alone a semi.

A rookie mistake would have been pressing to get a meaningless 2nd place finish in a quarterfinal round when you were already close enough to accomplish what you needed to do. Also, keep in mind the Russian who won the heat had a lot easier time seeing Marshevet than did Marshevet have seeing the Russian. And where did that Russian land heat wise? With Veronica, Kerron, Muna and Debbie. Where will she be watching the finals? From the stands.

This is all a moot point because Marshevet "ran blind" well enough to get 2nd in her heat in the semis and qualify for the finals...where she'll be in lane 7...many people casually think the outside lanes are a disadvantage in the 200. For taller runners and/or for those with less than stellar starts thats far from the case. Jeremy Wariner won a state title in the 200 out of lane 8. Spearmon won a collegiate title out of lane 8. And guess what lane Xavier Carter was in when he went 19.63? Here's a hint: it wasn't lanes 1-7.

You run the race you need to in each round to conserve as much energy as possible for the final...not the race the casual observer would think you should....she WON every round of the U.S. Trials in the 100 and took 4th in the final. I'm guessing she's taking a different approach this time around with only being in one event.

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Erin Rice

Erin Rice Staff

ConsiderThis, I do appreciate your in-depth knowledge of this topic. I probably took too many cues from the announcers during the race, but it was always my impression that the desired lanes were the middle ones. I definitely wasn't trying to count her out. Do think now that she's running the final in lane seven she'll be at a disadvantage given her height? Or does it even matter at this point?

I certainly hope you'll stick around and check out our continuing coverage of local T&F athletes and offer your advanced take on the subject.

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

ConsiderThis Anonymous

7 is actually a very good lane for her.

She's typically not a great starter so having Sherone Simpson and Muna Lee who are both better starters will help to pull her through the curve.

That being said, her PR is 22.49 and she ran that out of lane one at the adidas Track Classic this year so I'm pretty sure she can run well from any lane. The outer 3 lanes (7, 8 and 9) have less curve than the inner 5 so that plays to her strengths.

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

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