Track team earns 3 gold medals at state championship

Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Mountain Home Tigers track and field team pose for a group photo before heading off to the state championships last week. The team earned three gold medals during the event in Boise. Photo by Brian S. Orban

Mountain Home came home from the State Track and Field Championships at Bronco Stadium in Boise with three gold medals Friday night.

Mountain Home's girls 4x100-meter relay team took first place. Jasmyne Moore. Lauren Moore, Jessica Tindall and Jessica Liercke made up that team.

The Mountain Home Tigers also won the 4x200-meter relay event. Shelby Henrick joined Lauren Moore, Jessica Liercke and Jessica Tindall in making up the award-winning team.

"The two relays, they ran awesome," said Tiger head track coach Rich Urquidi. "We switched both our Jessicas around in the 4x200 and that sure paid off. The 4x100 broke the school record. They've been winning all year long and they just did awesome."

Mountain Home finished sixth in the 4A girls competition, with 40.5 points, three points behind Rigby. Bishop Kelly won the girls meet with 73 points.

"The sixth-place finish, that's kind of where I was expecting when we went in," the Mountain Home coach said. "We pretty much got all the points I expected to get, and we can't complain about that. We didn't take quite as many girls as we did last year, but it was really competitive in our conference and we're all pleased, and I think they're happy, too."

Other placers for the Mountain Home girls included Dakota Barrie, who had a fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and was part of a four-way tie for fifth in the high jump.

Shelby Posey finished fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus throw.

Jessica Tindall had a sixth-place finish in the 200 meters while Jasmyne Moore was seventh in the 100-meter hurdle.

Meanwhile, Jessica Liercke finished eighth in the triple jump.

In the boys' competition, Tyree Harmon brought home the gold in the 110-meter hurdles for Mountain Home, setting a new 4A state record with a time of 14.64 seconds, which beat the previous record of 14.93. He also had second-place efforts in the triple jump and 300-meter hurdles as part of the Tigers' winning effort.

Jake Lewis placed fourth in the discus throw.

Tyree had a great meet, said Coach Urquidi.

"Two second places and a first place in the high hurdles, you can't complain about that," the coach added. "He finished off his career really well, and I'm happy for him. He was excited. He was a little bummed about the 300 hurdles and in the triple jump, losing by an inch, but his 45 feet, 1 inch -- that's his best jump ever. That's where you want to do it, at state, so I'm happy for him.

Jake placed in the discus, and that was good for him, too, Urquidi said.

Mountain Home came in 11th in the 4A boys competition, but just two points out of seventh place.

"We only scored two guys, so that was pretty good for those two. It was really competitive in all those different places. The 4As were really good this year."

Coach Urquidi loses some good talent to graduation, but is excited about what he has coming back and coming up in the track program.

"We lose a few four-year lettermen in the boys and the girls, and a couple three-year lettermen, but we're excited," he said. "It's always hard to lose people, but we've always have been able to have people step back in and keep competing.

"We're looking forward to the eighth graders that are going to be moving up to ninth grade, so it should be fun," the track and field coach said. "Like the 4x200-meter relay, this is the third year in a row that the 4x2(00) has won, and it's been pretty tough. We keep losing people, but are able to keep reloading."

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: