Tiger track strong at state tournament

Mountain Home finished ninth in the boys competition and 10th in the girls competition of the State 4A Track & Field Championships at Bronco Stadium last week.

Emily Moranda led the Mountain Home girls, winning the 300-meter hurdles.

She was also part of the 4x100-meter relay (with Francesca Hale, Sherica Holmon and Alyssa Satzgaber) that finished third, the 4x400-meter relay (with Kristie Sigloh, Lauren Moore and Francesca Hale) that came in fourth, and she finished sixth in the 100-meter high hurdles.

Kristie Sigloh also finished fifth in the 400-meter dash, Francesca Hale was sixth in the 300-meter hurdles, and Jasmyn Jewett placed seventh in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump.

Brandon Doble was the Tiger boys leading scorer, finishing second in the 110-meter high hurdles and third in the 300-meter hurdles.

Mountain Home's 4x200-meter relay team of Robert Moss, Robert Daniels, Nick Barrie and Zacq Hale finished second.

Nick O'Briant finished third in the high jump, Jousha Driskell was fifth in the shot put, Tyree Harmon was fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles, and Robert Moss came in eighth in the 100-meter dash.

Mountain Home Tiger head track coach Rich Urquidi was proud of the efforts by his team.

"I'm proud of everybody. The biggest meet of the year and we had a lot of people PR, and we've improved over the last couple years. The girls were 18th the year before last, 12th last year, and 10th this year, and the boys, the same thing. We were 22nd a couple years ago, 18th last year, and 9th this year.

"We were a dropped baton away from finishing in fourth place in the boys, and being able to bring home a trophy.

"We pushed ourselves, and that's what we were trying to do, and I'm proud.

"We had some PRs with some young kids. Jasmyn Jewett's only been jumping the long jump for this was her third meet. She started her first one was at Twin Falls, and then district and then state, and she PRed at state and she ended up placing, and she's just a sophomore.

"The same thing with Garrett Wood in the pole vault. He's been coming on and PRed the last three meets, and he just barely missed 12' 6" to place.

"Obviously, Emily (Moranda) winning was nice. She's been working hard all year for that and we're proud of her. It was a good effort by everybody."

Urquidi will lose some top athletes to graduation, but remains excited about next year.

"We do lose some seniors that have been here for four years or three years, and obviously, that's always tough, but I know we're going to be okay in the girls. We're going to lose a little bit of speed in the boys, and that always happens, but we're always able to find some kids to replace things, and we're looking at improving and maybe bringing home a trophy in a couple things next year. We've been working hard, and I think it's been paying off."