Holly Hunter
Holly Marie Hunter (born on December 24, 1981) was a
West Virginia high school female middle-distance runner. She was born in Tennessee
however, while growing up she moved to three other states including Delaware,
Pennsylvania, and finally West Virginia by March of Hunter’s 5th grade year.
She is the daughter of the late Sallie and Bruce Hunter who had four children,
Sara, Kari, William and Holly.
As a
youngster Holly was
super shy, so her mom would sign her up for different sports in hopes that it
fit or she liked it. She started swimming when she was around 9 or 10 while
living in Pittsburgh, PA. Before that she played indoor soccer for a short
season and had briefly done gymnastics, but neither really peaked her interest.
Once she started swimming she loved it and began swimming competitively year
round. She continued to swim competitively after moving to WV. She began with
FAST, but then swam for MAC (Morgantown Aquatic Club). The drive to Morgantown every day had started
to become a little much with school, so she decided to take a break from it.
Hunter went
to East Fairmont High School from the fall of 1996 to the spring of 2000 where
she excelled at track and cross country. She started running her freshman year
in high school, because her brother Will convinced her to join the cross
country team as a good way to make friends.
While in
high school, Hunter was coached by Alice Muto her freshman year of cross
country and by her mother, Sallie Hunter for four years of track and three
years of cross-country.
Hunter saw
success very early in her running career. It only took a few meets her freshman
year to see that she had talent to compete in the top ten and she did just
that. The first meet she won was a weekly meet at North Marion, but the winning
didn’t stop there and for an individual never running before her freshman year
of high school, she did the unthinkable and won a state meet in just a few
months of training. It’s even more phenomenal to think she did this by running
just 30-35 miles a week throughout her high school career.
Hunter said
cross country was always her favorite and she preferred it over track. She was
a state cross country champion in three of her four high school seasons - 1996,
1997, 1999.
She was a
four-year letter winner and four-time NCAC Runner of the Year. Her top
performance at the 5K distance was 18:21 and she was the owner of several
course records.
She was
state champion and undefeated in four years of high school track. She held
state records in the 800m (2:17), 1,600m (5:02) and 3,200m (11:04). She was a
Wendy’s High School Heisman State finalist, All-South Foot Locker cross country
runner, and a senior athlete of the year at East Fairmont High. She was also an
all-state swimmer in several events.
After high
school, Hunter attended Virginia Tech from the fall of 2000 to spring 2005
where she ran cross country and track. While at Virginia Tech she studied
Elementary Education.
During her
freshman year she was coached for one season by Lori Taylor the wife of Steve
Taylor. “[I chose to go to Virginia Tech] because I fell in love with the
campus and looked at coaches Steve and Lori Taylor as being parents away from
home” said Hunter.
Lori Taylor
only ended up coaching Holly for her freshman year at VT. There was a big
coaching change her sophomore year causing many of the scholarship people, and
Hunter herself to get kicked off the team. She ran her freshman and sophomore
year and then walked on her fifth year.
After an
injury plagued start, Hunter made an immediate impact as a rookie. She placed
in Tech’s top seven in each of her races and as a top five performer three
times. Her highest finish was twelfth at the Hall of Fame Invitational. She
earned another top fifteen performance with a season best 18:32.96 at the
Disney Classic. She held the best outdoor performance on the team in the 3,000
meter with a time of 10:40.97 at Sea Ray Relays. She captured fourth in the 800
meter run at the CNU invitational.
In 2005, she
married Doctor Larry Gooss a former Virginia Tech runner. They have three
daughters, where they live in Midlothian, Virginia.
In 2007, Holly,
husband Larry, brother Will and seven other former East Fairmont High cross
country runners turned out to run the Run to Read 5K in memory of their former
coach, Sallie Hunter, who died of breast cancer on May 31, 2007.
Steve and
Lori Taylor, recently spotted her in Richmond running a Half-Marathon.
High
School Running Career
West Virginia High School State XC
Championships:
·
1996: 5000 meters / 1st place / 20:49 /
11-02-1996 (Elkins, WV)
·
1997: 5000 meters / 1st place / 20:56.00 /
11-01-1997 (Elkins, WV)
·
1998: 5000 meters / 2nd place / 18:58.00 /
10-31-1998 (Williamstown, WV)
·
1999: 5000 meters / 1st place/ 18:36.80 /
10-30-1999 (Williamstown, WV)
Foot Locker South Regional Cross
Country Championships:
·
1996: No results found
·
1997: 5000 meters / 47th place / 18:58.90
/ 11-29-1997 (McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte, NC)
·
1998: 5000 meters / 27th place / 19:01 / 11-28-1998
(McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte, NC)
·
1999: 5000 meters / 15th place / 18:33.40
/ 11-27-1999 (McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte, NC)
West Virginia High School State Track
Championships:
·
1997: 800 meters / 2nd place / 2:22.56; 1,600
meters / 1st place / 5:09.38 (record); 3,200 meters / 1st place / 11:18.31 (Record);
(Laidley Field/Charleston, WV)
·
1998: 800 meters / 1st place / 2:17.35 (Record);
1,600 meters / 1st place / 5:05.12 (Record); 3,200 meters /1st place / 11:09.09
(Record) (Laidley
Field/Charleston, WV)
·
1999: 800 meters / 1st place / 2:18.18; 1,600
meters / 1st place / 5:06.46; 3,200 meters /1st place / 11:06.04 (Record)
(Laidley Field/Charleston,
WV)
·
2000: 800 meters / 3rd place / 2:19.94; 1,600
meters / 1st place / 5:04.00 (Record); 3,200 meters / 1st place / 11:10.00 (Laidley
Field/Charleston, WV)
Other Notables:
·
2000: One Mile Run / 1st place / 5:05.72 /
07-01-2000 (New Balance Maine Distance Festival)
College
Running Career
2000 Results (Cross Country):
·
Alumni
Meet / 2 Miles / DNR
·
Virginia
Tech Invitational / 3.1 miles / DNR
·
Great
American Festival / 3.1 miles / 18:50.1 (60th)
·
Walt
Disney World Classic / 3.1 miles / 18:32.56 (13th)
·
Hall
of Fame Invitational / 3.1 miles / 19:03.54 (12th)
·
Big
East Championships / 3.1 miles/ 18:54 (56th)
·
NCAA
Regionals / 6 Kilometers / 24:09 (100th)
·
ECAC
Championships / 3.1 miles / DNR
2001 Results (Cross Country):
·
Alumni
Meet / 2 miles / 13:09 (4th)
·
Great
American Festival / 3.1 miles / 19:42
·
Greensboro
Invitational / 3.1 miles / 19:07
·
Big
East Championships / 6 Kilometers / DNR
·
NCAA
Regionals / 6 Kilometers / 24:24 (103rd)
2002 Results (Cross Country):
·
No
results found
2003 Results (Cross Country):
·
No
results found
2004 Results (Cross Country):
·
Festival
in the Fields / 4 Kilometers / 16:06.24 (24th)
·
Lou
Onesty Invitational / 5 Kilometers / 19:42.00 (24th)
·
Bobcat
Invitational / 6.4 Kilometers / 18:56 (7th)
·
Virginia
Tech Invitational / 4.7 Kilometers / DNR
·
Chile
Pepper Invitational / 6 Kilometers / 23:17.6 (91st)
·
ACC
Championships / 6 Kilometers / 24:34.1 (52nd)
·
NCAA
Southeast regional Championships / 6 Kilometers / DNR