Florida’s Natricia Hooper opened her outdoor season on a winning note after she captured the women’s Triple Jump title on Friday (25) at the Texas Relays 2022 meeting being held at the Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium here in Austin.
Hooper, who finished second behind her teammate Jasmine Moore at the NCAA Indoor Championships 2022 two weeks ago, stretched out to 13.91m (45-7.75) on her sixth and final attempt of the competition.
The Guyana native opened the contest with a promising mark of 13.84m and then improved that measure to 13.89m in the second round. Read more: Day 3 of Texas Relays 2022 – order of events schedule
She then recorded distances of 13.43m and 13.39m in the third and fourth rounds, before stepping up to register her winning effort in the final round, which is currently the best mark in the NCAA in this young outdoor season and the third best on the world outdoor toplist.
Ackelia Smith breaks Texas school record
Another Caribbean representative, Texas’ Ackelia Smith, who is from Jamaica, broke her long-standing school record on her way to taking second place. With her first attempt of the day, the freshman cut the sand at 13.86m (45-5.75) before improving the mark in the fifth round with a measure of 13.87m (45-6.25) to improve a 36-year record that was set by Terri (Turner) Hairston (44-9.75) on 15, March 1986.
She also jumped 13.73m in the sixth round and did 13.53m in the second round.
Smith now owns both the indoor and outdoor triple jump records for the Longhorns women program after breaking the indoor mark with a measure of 13.94m at a meeting in Clemson in February.
Mikeisha Welcome of Oklahoma who was 13th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, took third place on Friday with 13.53m (44-4.75).
The Texas Relays 2022 continues on Saturday with a full schedule that begins at 9:15 am ET with high school events.
