Gretchen Hoekstre

A former Seaside sports standout will compete at the NCAA national track and field championships on the campus of the University of Oregon on June 8.

Gretchen Hoekstre, who attends Brigham Young University, qualified in the discus.

She threw 187 feet 2 inches during last month’s qualifying tournament at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to place 10th in the field of 48. Colleges also record throws in metric, in this case 57.04 meters, to allow scorekeepers to match up with Olympic records in the rest of the world.

The throw broke her own school record, which she had set at the Big 12 Championships a couple of weeks ago, by nearly a meter.

The 5-foot-11-inch junior was one of six Cougar women who advanced to compete at Hayward Field.

Hoekstre was BYU’s field event rookie of the year in 2021. Her hobby is weightlifting and she also participates in shot put and the weight throw. As well as the outdoor discus record at BYU, she has the No. 2 all-time indoor shot put toss of 56 feet 1 1/2 inches and is tied for No. 2 in the outdoor shot with 53 4 1/2.

Her coach is American-born athlete Niklas Arrhenius, who threw discus for Sweden in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Gretchen was the most accomplished shot put and discus recruit I’ve had and she’s handled that pressure amazingly,” he said. “She has developed into an excellent big meet thrower.

“At the conference championships a few weeks ago, she broke the school record with a new personal best to get second place in a stacked field and now at the first round of the NCAA championships she broke her own school record in order to get 10th place and land in the top 12.”

He is enthusiastic about her appearance in Oregon.

“I’m excited for her to come close to home to represent not only our school, but her family and hometown,” he said. “We are super proud of her.”

At Seaside High School, she won back-to-back state championships in the shot put in 2028 and 2019 and was state champ in the discus in 2019. She also played basketball, volleyball and softball.

The daughter of Larry and Karen Hoekstre, the first-generation college student is majoring in exercise and wellness.