Jennifer Hooker

Excelling in distance events, she won championships in the Big Ten in the 200, 500 and 1650-yard freestyles in 1980 and 1981 and in the 1650-yard freestyle in 1982.

Jennifer Leigh Hooker (born June 6, 1961), also known by her married name Jennifer Brinegar, is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at only 15 at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec.

Jennifer was born in Bloomington, Indiana on June 6, 1961, to Jack Hooker, a Bloomington area construction company executive, and Jeanne Hooker, a kindergarten teacher.

She began swimming at 8, though she started more serious competition a few years later with the Bloomington Gatorade Swim Club under Coach Doc Counsilman.

By 12, she held two Indiana age group records; a 5:30.7 in the 500-yard freestyle, and a 2:02.5 in the 200-yard freestyle.

Still in her early teenage years, she had received technique tips from Hall of Fame Coach Doc Counsilman of Indiana University and trained at times with the outstanding Indiana men's swimming team from the ages of 12-14,.

Additional technique tips were provided by Cincinnati Marlins Coach, Olympian Charlie Hickcox, and her Bloomington Swim Club coach Gary Conolly.

Later, Jennifer set meet and state records in the 500-yard freestyle of 4:57.7, and the 200-yard freestyle of 1:53.4 at the Midwest Conference Senior Championships in February 1976, at Lakeside Swim Club in Louisville.

She set two additional Meet and Kentucky State records at the Midwestern Conference Championships, a 17:03.18 in the 1,650 yard swim and a :53.4 in the 100-yard freestyle.

Seeking more intensive training in preparation for the 1976 Olympic Trials, she took a break from the Bloomington Swim Club and moved to Louisville from Bloomington, attending Louisville's Waggener High School and swam for the Louisville Tarpons swim club under Coach Terry Schlichenmaier.

She qualified for the Olympics at the trials in Long Beach, as did her 25-year-old Tarpons teammate Camille Wright, a champion butterfly swimmer.

By July 1976, she was training for the Olympics with the U.S. Olympic team at West Point in New York, averaging two two-hour workouts per day.

The Olympic Head Coach for the 1976 Women's team was Jack Nelson who worked closely with Jennifer as did the Olympic Women's Assistant Coach Jim Montrella.

After the Olympics, she returned to Bloomington, and attended Bloomington South High School.

She had worked out with the Bloomington South High School Boys swimming team, but had not found them competitive enough for a swimmer of her ability.

At only 15, she competed in the women's 200-meter freestyle, and finished sixth in the final with a time of 2:04.20.

She also swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay, but did not receive a medal.

Under the Olympic swimming rules in effect in 1976, only those relay swimmers who competed in the event final were medal-eligible.

Showing her skills in Mid-August after the Olympics, at the Kentucky State AAU Swim meet at the Plantation Pool in Louisville, she won the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 backstroke, and took second place in the 400 individual medley relay team.

Travelling with the U.S. Olympic team, she visited Leningrad, Moscow and New Zealand and attended meets in East Germany.

Around 1976, not long after the Olympics, seeking training commensurate with her abilities, in her Sophomore year in High School she moved to Mission Viejo, California, at the advice of her Bloomington Swim Club Coach Doc Counsilman, and trained with the Mission Viejo Nadadores under Hall of Fame Coach Mark Schubert.

In 1976, after joining the Nadadores, she captured titles in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events in Canton, Ohio, setting new American records in both events.

She attended Mission Viejo High School, and swam with their top-ranked women's swim team, helping them capture the CIF 4-A title in 1977.

As a world ranked female swimming competitor, she trained around two and a half hours twice a day swimming as many as 20,000 meters total and did an hour of strength training a few days a week.

In 1977, Jennifer was a two-time National Champion and was world ranked in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

In 1978, she won a gold at the World Aquatics Championships in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, though she swam only in the preliminary heats.

At the AAU Long Course Championships on August 4, 1978, she was part of the Mission Viejo Nadadores' team that set a new American record in the Women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay with a time of 8:21.40 at the Woodlands, outside Houston, Texas.

On July 8, 1979, Jennifer won a silver medal in the San Juan, Puerto Rico Pan American games in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:50.71.3, taking a second to Kim Linehan.

She attended Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana, where she began swimming competitively in the fall of 1980, receiving a business degree in 1984.

During her swimming career at Indiana, she won seven Big 10 championships, and won national titles in the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle events.

She made All-American in three events in 1980 and 1981, and at the 1980 AIAW National Championships was second and fifth in the 500 and 1650 freestyle.

After completing college, Hooker became an auto industry professional, first selling General Motors automobiles in Rantoul, Illinois and later working as an insurance and finance manager in Americus, Georgia.

Jennifer served as captain of Indiana's Big Ten Championship team in 1981.

She swam for Indiana University where she received a business degree in 1984, and later practiced law after receiving a Juris Doctor degree from Vanderbelt University.

Having married by 1990 to James Brinegar, as Jennifer Brinegar she obtained a degree in law from Vanderbilt University, later practicing law in St. Louis and Rochester, Minnesota.

Jamie was a Cross Country athlete at Yale, who later did triathlons.

Jennifer resettled in Bloomington in 1994 to work for the IU Department of Athletics, and in 1996 completed a Masters Degree in sports management.

After receiving a Master's in Sports Management in 1996 at Indiana University, she worked for their athletic department, becoming an assistant athletic director in 1999.

Initially a graduate assistant in the athletic department, she was promoted to assistant athletic director in 1999, and directed the compliance office.

In 2008, she moved her family to Columbus, from Bloomington, Indiana so her son Michael could swim and compete with the Donner Swim Club and Columbus North High School.