Timber Creek high jumper clears record-breaking five-feet, 10-inches and first place in Group 3 Champs
Despite obstacles, sophomore Tierra Hooker reaches for the sky.
At the Ocean Breeze Invitational track competition in Staten Island, Timber Creek Regional High School sophomore Tierra Hooker did not know she had broken a meet record until a few moments after she landed a five-foot, 10-inch jump.
In fact, it was actually the second record the 15-year-old beat at that weekend competition in late January.
“I started visualizing myself clearing it instead of just rushing into the bar,” Tierra recalled. “I closed my eyes and just stepped back and went for it.”
The surreal moment led to her beating 23 others athletes in the girls high jump varsity red group.
The event’s roaring speactors wouldn’t believe it, but Hooker had just recently returned from a lengthy illness, which cost her the first full month of the indoor winter track season.
Leading up Ocean Breeze, Hooker was averaging about five-feet, six-inches at each meet, kindling even more emotion as she nearly jumped six feet in the air.
“The most challenging part was definitely coming back, because when I was out a month, I was out of shape,” Hooker said. “I had to catch up to everyone.”
Undaunted, she would not let any setback set the tone for her season.
Following Ocean Breeze, Hooker would once again surprise even herself, as she clinched first place in high jump at the Feb. 17 NJSIAA Group 3 Championships, where she jumped five-feet, six-inches.
Considering Hooker’s absence, these accomplishments were even more rewarding, but this season does not nearly mark the start to her series of successes, which all sparked when she cleared five-feet, nine inches in eighth grade at the AAU Junior Olympics in Texas.
In that moment, something clicked.
“That’s when I was like ‘I’m going to keep jumping,’ because I can really do something with this’,” Hooker said.
Since then, she has won gold medals at two rounds of Junior Olympics, clinching the first-place prizes in both the high jump and pentathlon.
Although Ocean Breeze was the highlight of her season, it was not the first time Hooker cleared five-feet, 10-inches, as during last year’s outdoor Meet of Champions event, she reached that height.
However, for Hooker this, too, was unexpected, because she says last year she faced some technical challenges, fluctuating all season between five-feet, two-inches and five-feet, eight-inches.
Coming into this season, she intended to break some habits in her jumping practices, such as bringing her head up too quickly or not arching back enough.
“I just wanted to work on my approach more and just try out different things to get over the bar in better form,” Hooker said. “I really struggled with my form last year.”
Although Hooker engages in all types of track and field, she feels high jumping is her forte, because she can most easily recognize her struggles and fix them amid this particular activity.
“When I do high jumps, I can notice what’s wrong with me,” she said. “But with other races, I can’t always figure out what’s wrong.”
This is not to say she is also not a seasoned sprinter or hurdler, as she was holding second place at one point during the Group 3 Track Indoor Sectionals in early February.
Crestfallen with yet another adversity this season, during the meet’s 55-meter hurdle race, Hooker slammed her left knee on an obstacle. The injury has confined her to solely high jumps for the rest of the indoor season.
Hooker intends for no obstacle, literal and figurative, to hinder the rest of her indoor and outdoor seasons.
She’s intently focused on daily practices, prepping for the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, which was scheduled for Feb. 24 and 25, as well as the New Balance Nationals, taking place from March 9 to 11.
“I just want to jump my best (at nationals), because I didn’t go last year. I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Hooker said.
Throughout the rest of her high school career, Hooker hopes to stimulate herself with more events, meets and, eventually, other track and field activities, once again.
Although she wants to delve back into sprints and hurdles, Hooker will always see herself as a high jumper.
“When I’m jumping, honestly, I’m not even thinking,” Hooker said. “All I’m trying to do is get over the bar. But, as I’m coming down, and I know I cleared it, it’s just amazing.”
