Maria (Shoup) Holbrook - MCSHOF Inductee - 2005

As she enters the Mason County Sports Hall of Fame, Maria (Shoup) Holbrook has won more individual track and field state championships, ten, than any other female in Michigan. A 1981 Mason County Eastern High School graduate, Maria's high school career accomplishments went like this: 1978 - Won the 880-yard run in a state record time of 2 minutes, 20.1 seconds; won the 440 in 58.7 1979 - Won the 800-meter run in 2:21.9; won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.9; won the 200-meter hurdles in a state-record time of 29.0; won the long jump at 5.32 meters 1980 - Broke her own 100-meter hurdles record with a winning time of 14.8; won the 200-meter hurdles in 29.1; finished second in the long jump at 17 feet 10 inches 1981 - Broke her own record in the 200 hurdles with a winning time of 28.9; won the long jump with a record leap of 18 feet 5 inches; finished second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.1 Said her high school coach, Duane Jones, "I can't remember seeing anyone who had all the talent that she had. There weren't too many people who had the talent and the desire and the work ethic that she had." Competing with the West Michigan Track Club, Maria won the 1979 National Championship in the 400-meter hurdles in 1 minute, 2.85 seconds and ran the anchor leg on the winning 1,600 meter relay team. She set nine track and field records at Western Michigan University and in 1985, her senior year, she became the first woman to win three individual events in the same meet. Maria won Mid-American Conference titles in the 100-meter hurdles (58.96 seconds) and capped her day by running the anchor leg on the winning 1,600 relay team. "I would describe Maria's competitiveness in one word: fierce," her coach, Debby Hunt, said. "She was as motivated and fierce a competitor as I've ever seen, period." She won the MAC's Most Valuable Athlete award and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1984.