Tiombé Abounds

Hurd wins America's indoor/outdoor triple jump

Tiombé Hurd ('94) of Upper Marlboro, Md., won the wo-men's triple jump event at the 2001 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., in June, making her America's 2001 indoor and outdoor triple jump champion.

Hurd, competing for Nike, jumped a Hayward Field re-cord 46' 3/4" to win the triple jump and earn a spot on the U.S. team for the IAAF World Championships held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in August. The former Hayward Field triple jump record of 45' 1" was set by a Jamaican triple jumper in 1996.

In March, Hurd also placed first in the triple jump at the USA Indoor Track and Field Champion-ship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. After the champion-ships in Eugene, Hurd says, "I was so excited to make my first outdoor world championship team. I was the only one who had a qualifying mark. I had to win in order to go to Edmonton."

At August's IAAF World Championships, Hurd was the leading American athlete in the women's triple jump. She had the 13th-best overall jump in the Aug. 8 qualifying round and just missed qualifying for the finals, as the top 12 competitors advanced. "I was disappointed that I didn't jump my best and make the final," she says, "but I'm looking forward to several other competitions this year, including the Goodwill Games."

After three years of self-coaching, Hurd teamed up with George Mason assistant men's track coach Robby Farias two years ago. Her breakthrough performance came at the 2001 World In-door Championships, where she won the bronze -- her first World Championship medal. With Farias at her side, Hurd has become the 2000 and 2001 U.S. indoor champ and the 2001 U.S. outdoor champ, and she placed second at the U.S. outdoor nationals in 1999. She also earned a bronze medal at the 1998 Goodwill Games.

On a typical day, Hurd puts in a full day as a systems administrator for Park Hyatt Washington hotel in D.C., and afterward goes to the George Mason campus to work out. "I finish up around 9:30 [p.m.] and drive 35 miles home," she says. "By the time I get home at 10, I'm too tired to do much of anything."

Recently, Hurd has been focusing more on weight training, hoping to become stronger overall. Yet she has already proven an inner strength by overcoming a physical hurdle on her way to championships. Legally blind, Hurd has suffered from a myopic disorder and retinal degeneration since birth, and both conditions affect depth perception. Fortunately, the problem is rectified with special contact lenses that she has worn since sixth grade. Hurd says, "A lot of track and field competitors use tape as markers to help in their events, but you can tell when I'm at the track -- I use wide color strips of tape on the runway so I can see them easily."

Hurd began running in track events in city recreation programs in Seattle, and her family later moved to Virginia. As a high school sophomore, Hurd's world cultures teacher and track coach encouraged her track prowess. She's been triple jumping ever since. Hurd earned her B.A. in hotel/restaurant management and later earned a master's from Howard University.

Hurd's biggest fan is her father, Clifford Holland, a former distance runner. "He is very involved," she says. "He flies to a lot of my meets and he knows all my marks. He even knows all my competitors and their marks."

One year after graduating, Hurd was ranked No. 10 in the United States by Track & Field News. In 1997, she was ranked No. 8 after placing eighth in the USA Indoor and fifth in the USA Outdoor. By 1998, she was ranked third in the United States with a third place in the Goodwill Games and a third in the USA Outdoor.

In 1999, Hurd was ranked No. 2 in America with a fifth place in the Pan American Games and a second place at the USA Outdoor. Last year, she dominated the USA In-door Championships winning her first national title.

"I was very happy and confident after the Indoor Nationals in Atlanta," says Hurd. "I met two out of my three goals -- first was to win, second was to jump over 14 meters indoors, and third was to get the Olympic qualifying "A" standard of 14.15 meters -- so I'm happy. In the past, I haven't had much luck on Atlanta's raised runway, but I was finally able to get it together and win the indoor title."

Hurd placed third at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials, but she was ranked No. 1 in the nation. This year, she surpassed the sought-after Olympic qualifying standard while at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portugal and became the first American female triple jumper to win a medal at a major international competition.

Michelle Hite ('88)