Hooker ran a wind-aided 10.76 seconds to win her 100-meter quarterfinal Friday at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, tying her with former world record-holder Ashford as the fifth-fastest woman in all conditions.
Former Copperas Cove standout Robert Griffin qualified for the semifinals in the men’s 400 hurdles with a time of 49.74. His time was the third fastest in his heat behind Terry Thornton and Justin Gaymon.
Griffin, a Baylor freshman, qualified 10th overall with Jeshua Anderson, the current NCAA champion, qualifying first with a 49.05.
Also qualifying for the semifinals were 2000 Olympic gold medalist Angelo Taylor and reigning world champion Kerron Clement.
The semifinals for the event will begin at 5:55 p.m. today with the finals set for 5:17 p.m. Sunday.
“I heard the time first,” said Hooker, an NCAA champion at Texas, of her time in the 100. “I was like, ‘Wow!’”
Then, though, she heard the wind speed: 3.4 meters per second, above the 2.0 that’s allowed for a time to count as a personal best or official record.
Still, only world-record holder Griffith-Joyner, Jones, Christine Arron and Merlene Ottey ever have run faster, regardless of wind. That impressed the other women in what’s considered a talented field, with more than a half-dozen legitimate contenders for the three 100 berths on the Beijing Games roster.
“She was fast. Real fast,” said Torri Edwards, the 2003 world champion in the 100. “I hope she’s tired.”
Edwards won her heat in a wind-aided 10.85, while Carmelita Jeter advanced by winning her heat in 10.97. Allyson Felix, hoping to compete in four events in China, was second to Jeter in 10.98, and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Lauryn Williams finished behind Hooker in 10.86.
Hooker also had the fastest time of the opening round Friday, a wind-aided 10.94.
One woman who did not make it out of the 100 quarterfinals was Chryste Gaines, who clocked 11.15 in the first round but finished seventh in her next race.
Gaines, a two-time Olympic relay medalist, was banned for two years in December 2005, along with former men’s 100 world record-holder Tim Montgomery. Their punishments were based not on positive drug tests but on evidence gathered in the criminal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and the testimony of fellow sprinter Kelli White.
Montgomery and Gaines were among dozens of athletes who testified in 2003 before a federal grand jury in San Francisco probing BALCO.
They also were part of the series of athletes whose scandals and suspensions placed a cloud over the sport, a cloud that Felix and others are hoping to lift.
“We paved the way for them. That’s why they get the money they get. We don’t get those props,” said Gaines, who noted she’s still friends with former BALCO head Victor Conte.
The competition got off to a quick start under a cloudless sky with the temperature approaching 90 degrees. In the very first event of the 10-day meet, Hyleas Fountain broke Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s decade-old U.S. record in the heptathlon 100 hurdles.
Fountain, a two-time national champion in the heptathlon, finished in 12.65, eclipsing Joyner-Kersee’s mark of 12.69. Fountain also bested Joyner-Kersee’s Olympic trials record of 12.71 from 1988, and Joyner-Kersee’s U.S. national championship record of 12.77 from 1991.
In other events pole vaulter Brad Walker - competing at the same track where he set the U.S. record less than three weeks ago - led with 18 feet, 4½ inches (5.6 meters).
Texas distance runner Justin Hernandez advanced to today’s 800 meter semifinals with a quarterfinal time of 1:48.01.
The meet runs through next weekend, with Tuesday and Wednesday as rest days.
Next Friday Temple product Mike Hazle will begin his quest to advance to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Hazle - a 1997 Temple High School graduate and multi-sport athlete for the Wildcats - will participate in the javelin throw.
Hazle is one of only three American throwers who have met the “A” qualifying standard of 81.80 meters for this year's games. A country is allowed to enter three competitors per event, if all three athletes have met the “A” standard.
