50th Anniversary of Women's Athletics at Binghamton University
Profile: Monique Hacker, Track & Field, 1996-00
Brief: A native of St. Andrew, Jamaica, Monique Hacker competed in track and field at Binghamton from 1996-00. With five NCAA individual titles and 12 All-America honors, she is the most decorated Binghamton athlete - male or female - in school history.
She earned her bachelor's degree in math and economics in 2000.
Since graduating from Binghamton, Monique has started a career as an Actuary with New York Life Insurance Company and has recently celebrated 18 years. She lives in Florida with her husband and daughter.
Accomplishments on Hacker's Hall of Fame plaque
A gifted athlete who excelled in the jumps, sprints and hurdles, Hacker became the school's first female national champion, capturing five NCAA triple jump titles and claiming 12 Division III All-America and a two Division II All-America honors. One day after joining the team as a freshman, she broke the school's indoor triple jump record by nearly five feet and qualified for her first national meet. There, she captured the first of her five championships and also placed seventh in the 55 hurdles. Hacker repeated her national title two months later outdoors and also took fourth in the 100 hurdles. She was then featured in Sports Illustrated on July 15, 1996. As a sophomore, she qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship in four different events. Outdoors in 1997, she captured her third triple jump title. In her junior year, she won both the indoor and outdoor triple jump titles, setting NCAA meet records at each championship. Hacker was named NCAA Division III Female Indoor Track Athlete of the Year after single-handedly accumulating enough team points for BU to finish third in the entire nation. As a senior, Hacker competed as a Division II athlete and added two more All-America honors to her credit, including a national runnerup finish in her final collegiate performance. In addition to her national honors, she earned 17 state titles and 12 conference crowns and was named BU's "Athlete of the Year" an unprecedented three times.
Catching up with Hacker ...
What was your high school sports background and what factors led to you coming to school at Binghamton?
I attended High School both in Jamaica and the States. In Jamaica, I started Track & Field at age 12. My main events were sprints and hurdles. When I moved to the States, I went to high school in Montrose, NY. Joining the track team was one of the ways my sister and I adjusted to life in a new country. On the team, I continued to participate in what I was used to: sprints (no more than 100m!!) and hurdles. One afternoon after practice, I started playing around the sand pit and joked about doing the triple jump. What was initially a joke, ended up resulting in one of the top finishes at the NY State Championship that year. Even though I received a few offers for athletic scholarships, my parents suggested I make my decision on college based on the quality of the school’s academics, rather than the strength of their athletic programs. I did just that and applied to Binghamton as it was one of the best, if not the best, State school. My thought was if I attended a school, without scholarship support, I wouldn’t be bound to the requirements of that scholarship and could choose to do track or not do track.
You achieved some incredible things here ... five NCAA titles and 12 All-America honors. When you think back ... are you able to appreciate how remarkable those achievements were?
Most people who are now a part of my life, who didn’t know me while I was in college, are not aware of my achievements in track & field. For me, the accomplishments were great, however, the experience of just doing something I love was more rewarding. It is hard to say whether the experience would have been just as great had I not won (I’ll never know!). As the demands of life distract us, it becomes very easy to forget what it truly means to have received all these awards. Every so often, when opportunities like this arise and I’m able to really reflect on what this means, I do feel incredibly blessed that I chose to attend Binghamton and was able to leave my mark on such a great institution.
What factors do you think might have set you apart from other competitors in your events?
Having grown up in Jamaica, Track & Field is in our veins. We may not all be great at it, but each of us will have tried to see if the potential is there from an early age. The innate ability definitely did set me apart from other competitors, but that probably accounts for only 25% of my success. Two key contributing factors to my success were superior coaches and an unrelenting commitment to practicing. I was fortunate to have found coaches who are not only technically adept at the sport but also able to maximize the potential of their athletes, through both mental and physical coaching. No matter how much I whined (ahem) about how tough practices were, they were always patient and stern to make sure the result we both wanted was accomplished; I needed that. Specifically at Binghamton, this was not just me attaining these titles, this was Coach Thompson and I together, as he put in as much work as I did to achieve them. Without him, there’s no way this would have been possible.
What do you take the most pride in?
Records can be broken but the accomplishment of being the first female national champion at Binghamton University will remain with US forever. The “US” includes my parents, siblings, coaches, husband, daughter and so many others that either made sacrifices back then during the blood, sweat and tears, or are with me now to share in the joy of what was accomplished back then. I am also really excited to be included in this 50th celebration and to be among some phenomenal women athletes.
As you reflect back ... what remain your fondest memories of being a student-athlete at Binghamton?
My fondest memories of being a student athlete were the relationships developed with my coaches and teammates. We were together every day for hours as we practiced. We were together on weekends as we traveled for meets. We were together at ceremonies to celebrate each other’s accomplishments. Those moments made all the hard work worth it. What skills and lessons from your own athletics background do you utilize in your career now? As an Actuary, the only physical activity I get is getting up and down from the chair at my desk! Other than the physical component, being in athletics has taught me to strive for the very best. I also know that whatever I hope to accomplish, it will take hard work and LOTS of practice because success just doesn’t happen overnight. Even seeming failures are successes as they provide opportunities for growth. I have developed a great work ethic from being involved in athletics and I will be sure to encourage my daughter to be involved in athletics as well; as the character qualities developed from being in a sport cannot be gained elsewhere.
