Hood to throw at University of Akron

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Neighbors | Submitted.Boardman High School senior Valerie Hood earned All-Ohio honors in shot put and discus at the state track and field meet. .She placed fifth in the discus and and seventh in the shot put.

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Neighbors | Submitted.Valerie Hood (center), a Division I state track qualifier, is joined by her brother, David (left) and father, Daryl, after signing to compete in track at the University of Akron.

Valerie Hood, a senior with the Boardman girls’ track and field team, has signed a letter of intent to continue her throwing career at the University of Akron.

Boardman’s track coach Denise Gorski thinks Akron will offer many opportunities.

“The University of Akron has a great tradition in their track program, some of the best track facilities in the country and will be a great fit for Valerie. This is an example of a young lady who went from sprinting and jumping with average performances to finding her place in the throws and now receiving a Division I scholarship. I’m very happy for her and excited to see her compete at the next level.”

Hood, a four-year member of the Boardman team and a three-year letter winner, has made significant accomplishments, especially in the past two years of her high school career.

In her junior year, she was a member of the school record-setting discus relay team and was the co-MVP in field events at the Poland Invitational after placing first in the discus with a toss of 128-9 and second in the shot put (37-10 Ω).

She was also a regional qualifier in 2009 in the discus and had personal bests last year of 37-10 Ω in the shot put and 130-1 in the discus.

This year, Hood has experienced great success since the indoor season. This was the first year she qualified to the indoor state meet where she placed sixth with a toss of 36- Ω in the shot put and earned All-Ohio indoor honors for the first time.

In the second meet of the outdoor season, Hood was named MVP at the Bedford Relays after taking first in the shot (38-1) and discus (111-3). At the Mahoning County meet, she was the runner-up in the discus throwing her career best of 137-8.

At the Poland Invitational, she broke the meet record in the discus in the semifinals, throwing her all-time best of 144-6.

Hood began her track career at Boardman in her freshman year running the sprints and long jumping having personal best performances of 14.5 in the 100, 32.9 in the 200 and 14-4 Ω in the long jhmp.

In her sophomore year, she tried out for the throwing events and found her place. She threw personal bests of 33-2 in the shot and 107-0 in the discus.

Hood will major in exercise science at Akron and is the daughter of Leslie and Daryl Hood. Her throwing coach at Boardman is Tim Swartz.