MHHS's Moranda begins title defense tonight at home district meet

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Emily Moranda knew she was fast.

She could tell that from the time she spent on the soccer field outrunning her competitors.

She just didn't know how fast she was until she tried out for the Mountain Home High School track team as a sophomore.

She thought she'd be a good runner, but wasn't sure in what events.

Luckily for her, it only took track and field coach Richard Urquidi a day to figure out she was going to be a hurdler.

"I'm really glad he did, it turned out to be very successful," Moranda said. "It came pretty natural."

Success came in the form of a state title in the 300-meter hurdles last year and three district titles the week before.

Moranda said it was pretty amazing to win state her second year running.

She will only have to wait another week for the chance to defend her title. The state track meet is May 22-23 at Boise State.

Her title defense begins today at the 4A District III Championships at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

Moranda will compete in the 300-meter huddles, the 100-meter hurdles, the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x400-meter relay.

She won both hurdle events last year and was a member of the winning 4x100 team and the 4x400 team that placed second at districts.

The senior has ran the best 100- and 300 -meter hurdles time in the district this year and so has the 4x100 team that will look to win the event for the third straight year.

Moranda is only 0.02 seconds off of her winning time at last year's state meet and said she definitely wants to keep her title.

She keeps track of her competition in the southern part of the state as she races against them and uses newspapers to keep track of her competitors in northern Idaho.

"I'm excited because I think I can do good," Moranda said. "I expect to win again. I've been practicing really hard."

After practice, Moranda can often be found working on her own at the gym or on the track.

During the day, she sometimes uses her period as a teacher's assistant for get extra practice time.

She's not the only one putting extra time in on the track as she pursues another state title.

She said Urquidi also puts in extra time with her during his prep period when she asks.

"If it wasn't for him (Urquidi), I wouldn't be as far as I am," Moranda said.

Moranda plans to walk on to Boise State's track team in the fall and will study pre-med. She wants to be a general surgeon or an OB/GYN doctor.

She said she was nominated by Sen. Mike Crapo to attend the United States Naval Academy but turned down that opportunity because she didn't think the military was the right fit for her.

Urquidi thinks Moranda has a good shot at repeating at the 300-meter hurdles, calling her "the person to beat in the 300 hurdles." He said her chances in the 100-meter hurdles depend on how she gets out of the blocks.

She's more of a stronger runner than a flat-out speed runner, which favors the 300-meter hurdles over the 100-meter hurdles, Urquidi explained.

Urquidi expects the girls track team to compete for the district title and said the team has the chance to qualify at least one girl each in 16 of the 18 events.

A district title will be the first in Urquidi's ten-year head coaching tenure at Mountain Home.

Urquidi expects the boys team to finish in the top three but said it would take a pretty good effort from the team to win the meet.

He also expects several boys to qualify to state, including Tyree Harmon, who has ran the fastest 110-meter hurdles in the district this year.

The district meet starts at 3:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Tiger Field.

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  • Go Emily go! Good luck to you.

    -- Posted by OpinionMissy on Thu, May 15, 2008, at 10:40 AM
  • WTG Emily! Good luck!!

    -- Posted by MommiezBoyz on Thu, May 15, 2008, at 11:31 PM
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