Gabriella Rooker

Last updated

Gabriella Rooker
Personal information
NicknameGabi
Born (1987-10-09) October 9, 1987 (age 37) [1]
New Brighton, Minnesota [1]
Home town Minneapolis, Minnesota [1]
Education Totino-Grace High School, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse [1]
Sport
CountryFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
ClubMill City Running, Raev Endurance [1]
Coached byAlex Rooker [1]

Gabriella Rooker (born Gabriella Hooper) is an American long-distance runner. She has qualified for the 2024 US Olympic marathon trials. In 2024, she was inducted into the University of Wisconsin La Crosse wall of fame. [2]

Contents

College

Rooker was a gymnast through college at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and in 2008 the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognized Rooker for her academic achievement while being on the university's gymnastics team. [3] She has six Division III National Champion titles including vault (2007 and 2008), floor exercise (2010), and team (2008, 2009, 2010). [4]

Professional career

After college, Rooker started running with her husband, Alex. She had a breakout race at the 2019 Twin Cities 10 Mile in which she ran 62:06 and finished in ninth place. [5] She said she was inspired to become even more competitive after a friend ran an Olympic time qualifying race the same year at the Twin Cities Marathon.

Rooker ran a 2:24:35 at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, finishing in 11th place. Afterward, Rooker said she felt like her life changed overnight and signed a contract with Nike after she realized there was mutual interest. [6] She had planned to run the 2023 Chicago Marathon in her Mill City Running racing kit, but found out that wasn't allowed until the Tuesday before the race; she was able to acquire a Nike race kit through friends before the race.

Rooker qualified for the 2024 US Olympic marathon trials by running a 2:24:35 at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. [7] Among Minnesota athletes who competed at the 2024 trials, Rooker had the fastest qualifying time being five seconds faster than that of Dakotah Popehn. [8] Rooker finished in 19th place at the trials with a time of 2:31:25. [9]

Rooker is one of 120 women who are a part of Nike Project Dreamweaver, a program the company ran from September 2021 to February 2024 to provide coaching, sports psychology, physiology support from the Nike Sports Research Lab, and shoes to unsponsored female athletes seeking an Olympic qualifying time. [10] [11] [12]

Personal life

Rooker is friends and Mill City Running teammates with Kim Horner. [13]

Rooker works as a physician assistant. [14] In 2010, the Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Control Program awarded Rooker a $7,000 grant to distribute free test kits for the early detection of colorectal cancer. [15] At the time, Rooker was a community health education intern at Franciscan Skemp Healthcare Cancer Center, which is part of the Mayo Clinic Health System. [16]

Rooker met her future coach and husband during her fourth year at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. After getting engaged on November 21, 2013 on the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, they both wore engagement rings made from the same rosewood tree in Israel as a sign of equity. They got married on December 31, 2014 at the James J. Hill House in Saint Paul, Minnesota. [17]

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2024 Chicago Marathon Chicago, Illinois 12thMarathon2:24:29 [18]
2023 Chicago Marathon Chicago, Illinois 11thMarathon2:24:35 [19]
2023 Grandma's Marathon Two Harbors, Minnesota to Duluth, Minnesota 3rdMarathon2:27:38 [20]
2022Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile Minneapolis, Minnesota to Saint Paul, Minnesota 36th10 mile56:23 [21]
2021 Grandma's Marathon Two Harbors, Minnesota to Duluth, Minnesota 11thMarathon2:56:27 [22]
2019Medtronic Twin Cities 1 Mile Minneapolis, Minnesota 3rd1 mile5:18.1 [23]
2018Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile Minneapolis, Minnesota to Saint Paul, Minnesota 194th10 mile1:06:02 [24]
2015Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile Minneapolis, Minnesota to Saint Paul, Minnesota 377th10 mile1:10:59 [25]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Athlete Bios: Gabriella Rooker". US Olympic Team Trials. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  2. ↑ "Six To Be Inducted Into UW-La Crosse Wall of Fame". Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. 10 September 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  3. ↑ "WIAC ACADEMIC HONORS". Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. 16 October 2008.
  4. ↑ Reid, Claire (2 February 2024). "At least 10 Olympic Trials marathoners have ties to Wisconsin. Here's how to watch them Saturday". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  5. ↑ Mazziotta, Julie (31 January 2024). "Meet the Former College Gymnast-Turned-Marathoner Gunning for a Spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics". People Magazine. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  6. ↑ Corbett, Owen (21 January 2024). "Meet Gabi Rooker And Her Unconventional Path To The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials". Citius Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  7. ↑ Acker, Jennifer (11 October 2023). "How Gabriella Rooker Ran Her Way to a 2:24 PR in Chicago". Runners World. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  8. ↑ Blount, Rachel (1 February 2024). "Your guide to the U.S. Olympic marathon trials - Several Minnesotans will be among the runners pursuing spots on the U.S. Olympic team for this summer's Paris Games at the marathon trials Saturday in Orlando, Fla". Minnesota Star Tribune.
  9. ↑ Blount, Rachel (4 February 2024). "Lindwurm makes Olympic cut - St. Francis runner finished third to round out U.S. marathon team". Minnesota Star Tribune.
  10. ↑ Mateo, Ashley (1 February 2024). "Gabi Rooker Was Just Trying to Qualify for the Olympic Trials—Now She's a Legitimate Contender". Run Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "PA Hospitalist Strikes Balance With Running". National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  12. ↑ Noteboom, Noah (14 May 2024). "Hood River residents run in Olympic marathon trials, set the tone for women's racing". Columbia Gorge News (OR).
  13. ↑ Wicker, Beau (28 June 2022). "Horner qualifies for 2024 US Olympic Team Trials in marathon". Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN).
  14. ↑ "Why I love my job: Team members across our health system explain why their work comes from the heart". Fairview Health. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  15. ↑ Rindfleisch, Terry (27 October 2010). "Test kits can reach more people". La Crosse Tribune (WI).
  16. ↑ Hooper, Gabriella (21 November 2010). "FOLLOW TIPS TO ENJOY FEAST WITHOUT GUILE". La Crosse Tribune (WI).
  17. ↑ "A New Year's Eve Library Wedding at the James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul, Minnesota". The Knot. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  18. ↑ Davern, John (13 October 2024). "2024 Chicago Marathon: Recap and Highlights". FloTrack. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  19. ↑ Acker, Jennifer (11 October 2023). "How Gabriella Rooker Ran Her Way to a 2:24 PR in Chicago". Runners World. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  20. ↑ "Grandma's Marathon 2024". Duluth News-Tribune. 19 June 2024.
  21. ↑ "Gabriella Rooker". MTEC Results. 2 October 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  22. ↑ Lindsey Hein (22 July 2022). "Episode 400: Gabi Rooker – 20 Minute PR at Grandma's Marathon with an Olympic Trials Qualification". Sandyboy Productions (Podcast). Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  23. ↑ "Gabriella Rooker". MTEC Results. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  24. ↑ Cook, Josh. "Gabi Rooker". Run Minnesota. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  25. ↑ Cook, Josh. "Gabi Rooker". Run Minnesota. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
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