A Brooks at the state track meet? It’s just...
A Family Tradition

BY BILL MARTIN
Reporter Sports Editor

 You’ll have to excuse Krysten Brooks if she feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders.
 Because, you see, if you live in Rockdale, Texas and your last name happens to be Brooks, there are certain expectations.
 Being a member of Rockdale’s first family of track, where gold medals fall like rain from the sky, can be a little intimidating.
 Brooks will continue the family tradition and join two uncles and her father in that exclusive club when she competes in the 100-meter hurdles Friday at the UIL state track meet at 6:45 p.m. at Mike Meyers Stadium on the University of Texas campus.
 “It does take a little pressure off,” Brooks said. “In some ways I feel obligated to go to state. It’s a lot of inspiration and a lot of hard work. My family has helped me a lot.
 “I’m definitely motivated.”
 The list of Brooks family feats is impressive.
 Uncle Dennis was second in the 110-meter hurdles in 1982. Her father Tony won gold medals in the 300 hurdles in 1984 and in 1985, defended his crown in the 300 hurdles and also sprinted to victory in the 110 hurdles to sweep the hurdles.
 More about Tony later.
 Twenty years ago, Uncle Donny defended his 110-hurdle championship to make it two in a row.
 Another uncle, Terry, just missed out on going to state in 1983, finishing third in the 110-hurdles at regionals by one-one hundreth of a second.
 Tony played football at TCU, Donny at Texas Tech.
 Dennis ran track at Angelo State, while Terry ran track and played football at Howard Payne where his record in the 110-hurdles still stands.
 Grandfather Dennis Brooks Sr., who was a part of the Aycock sports dynasty in the 1950s, missed out on going to state after falling on the last hurdle in the 110s at district.

Gettin’ better 
 Brooks accredits a lot of her improvement to first-year Tiger track coach Brent Hasselbach.
 “Coach Hass has helped me a lot,” Brooks said. “I’m a lot stronger and a lot faster this year.”
 Papa Tony has even kept a low profile at practices this year, something he hasn’t done in the past.
 “I’ve stayed away more this year and let her learn from her coach instead of her daddy,” he said.
 “There are a combination of several things that make her good,” Hasselbach said. “Obviously, it is in her genetics. God has blessed her family with the ability to run hurdles.”
 Muscular thighs and bulging calves, are also a Brooks family tradition.
 “This year she is stronger,” Hasselbach says. “When she hits a hurdle she can recover very quickly. I think that comes from her strength as well as her experience.
 “Krysten has an explosive start that puts her in the lead early. We have worked on her endurance this year so that she is able to finish the race as well as she starts it.”
 Her grandfather agrees.
 “She’s strong on her start,” Brooks, Sr. says. “She’s worked on that real hard. That’s when you blow folks minds, at the beginning.”
 “She has good technique and I never have to fight her to do her drills,” Hasselbach says. “She is dependable, dedicated and coachable.”
 Brooks feels his daughter has just now scratched the surface on what she is capable of accomplishing.
 “I think she’s just tapping into it,” he said. “She still has a lot left in her. The state record should be her goal next year. She is capable of doing it and it should be in her sites.”

May 16, 1985
 That Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, there was no better athlete in the state than Tony Brooks. Certainly no better hurdler.
 Brooks dusted the field in winning two gold medals and turned in the best time in the 300-hurdles in any class that day.
 His 36.44 clocking is still the Class 3A record.
 “That day, I had a goal to win both medals,” Brooks said. “I wanted to go out and destroy the field.”
 He did.
 “I wanted to go out and show the entire state of Texas that I was the best hurdler in the state.”
 He did.
 Brooks had motivation to win both. The year before, he hit the first hurdle in the 110-hurdles and finished out of the money, settling for the gold in the 300 hurdles.
 He wasn’t about to let that happen again in 1985.
 Running in the inside lane in the 110-hurdles, Brooks roared to a 13.5 clocking. His closest pursuer, Jeff Robertson of Ferris was .7 seconds back.
 The 300-hurdles was his race and he wasn’t about to let anybody else have it. He had the race wrapped up after the first hurdle to successfully defend his crown.
 His timing of 36.3 broke the 11-year old Class 3A record by half a second. He was so far ahead, he was able to peek over his shoulder down the stretch to see if anyone was coming.
 They weren’t.
 The gold medal also put an end to Brooks’ rivalry with Caldwell’s Bobby Jack Goforth who he had jousted with in the 300s for four years.
 Goforth finished 10 yards behind Brooks at state.
 “I always had someone to push me,” Brooks said.
 Brooks’ winning time in the 300s in 1985 was the best of all five classifications. No one came within a half-second of him.
 The eyes of Texas were upon him.
 Brooks had fallen in the 300 hurdles in district and finished second.
 Twenty-three years later, daughter Krysten tripped over the last hurdle at the district meet, but was so far ahead of the field, that she calmly got up and jogged across the finish line for first place.

Progression
 Brooks lowered her time in the first five meets she competed in this year, until she broke the school record for the first time at Caldwell.
 She had Bellville’s Tricia Jackson and Caldwell’s Macy Osburn running with her for inspiration.
 “No one had been able to push her before that meet,” Hasselbach said.
 At regionals, with Jackson and Osburn both in tow again, Brooks set another school record.
 “She had the race won by the second hurdle,” Hasselbach said.
 Jackson was a distant second. Osburn was fifth.
 Going into the state meet Friday, Brooks has the second fastest time in the heat, behind Katie Grimes of Canyon. They have the only two sub-15 second times.
 Grimes won a silver medal last year.
 The field includes two other state meet veterans, Katie Miller of Bandera who won the bronze last year and of course Jackson, who was fifth.
 Brooks enters the race as the novice—­the novice with the fastest time.
 Jade Davis of West Columbia won the gold medal last year with a time of 14.40, .23 seconds off Brooks’ school record.
 Papa Brooks has just a couple of pieces of advice for his daughter as she prepares to perform.
 “Let your butterflies and nervousness work to your advantage,” he said. “Don’t let it get to you. Use it to run your hardest.
 “I also told her that standing on the podium at the state meet—whether you finish first, second or third—lets everybody know that you are one of the best hurdlers in the state.”
 He should know.

stillbill@rockdalereporter.com
 

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