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Pashe Moore was good enough for Sam Houston State to offer her a scholarship on the strength of her ability in the 100-meter hurdles.
Now she's made her resume a little longer.
The Bryan senior, who had not run the 300 hurdles since her freshman season, is back on the track running in the longer race. Earlier this season, she ran an impressive time of 45.20 seconds at the Navasota Invitational and proved she can handle the event.
"I was really surprised, because I didn't have anybody to challenge me," Moore said. "It didn't know I was going to be able to run a 45. I felt good over all of the hurdles but didn't know it was a 45."
Bryan girls track and field coach Matt Rice puts the time in perspective.
"That's probably top 20 and maybe even top 15 in the state," Rice said. "She's in real good shape. Hopefully, she'll be able to pull it together and run good times in both [hurdle events]. It's been kind of up and down."
But the important thing may not be how well Moore is running both hurdle events but the fact that she's making the attempt.
"When she told me she hadn't run the 300 hurdles since her freshman year, we got after that," Rice said.
And Moore says Rice did get after it -- and her.
"Coach Rice talked me into the 300 hurdles," said Moore, who has run the 300 hurdles five times so far. "At first, I was kind of skeptical, but I went ahead and did it."
Moore also runs the opening leg on Bryan's 400 relay team, something she's done since her freshman season. Though predominately a hurdler, Moore believes her times in the 100 hurdles indicate her speed in the 100.
"If you're running a low 15 [seconds] or in the 14s, you're running a first- or second-place 100 time," Moore said. "You have to have speed to run the 100 hurdles."
Said Rice: "She gives us a good jump and obviously is a very valuable member of our team."
Since she finished third in the 100 hurdles as a freshman, the senior has been a force at the 13-5A meet, which opens with field events and preliminary heats Thursday at Temple's Wildcat Stadium. That's the same track where she made her first splash at district.
"I ran a 15.3 my freshman year, my first 15," Moore said of her silver-medal performance in the 100 hurdles. "I enjoy Temple's track. It's a hard-based track, so it's easier for your spikes to grip in. I feel it's a faster track."
At the Killeen Kangaroo Relays last week, Moore ran a season-best 14.74 in the 100 hurdles, finishing third behind 13-5A opponents Jasmine Smalls of Harker Heights and Belton's Myra San Miguel. The top three at district advance to the Region II meet, but Moore isn't looking merely to advance.
"She's looking to contend for the district championship in the 100-meter hurdles and hasn't run completely clean race yet," Rice said.
Moore placed fourth a year ago at the regional meet, timed in 14.99 in the finals. The UIL state meet remains the ultimate goal.
"You don't even think about regionals," Moore said. "You think past that. I'm making it to state this year. I have that confidence that I'm making it."
Moore also is confident in her Bryan teammates, though the Lady Vikings have been hurt in the sprints and relays without Lekendra "Cat" Clemons, who suffered a knee injury during basketball season.
"We could have been really phenomenal with her on the team," said Moore, who now leads a young team that Rice has tried to strengthen with additions from basketball and soccer.
"Both of those teams had great seasons," Rice said. "We're trying to get some of those good athletes to help us and boost us along. The name of the game in track is numbers, and we're trying to get the numbers up, be successful and compete."
A&M Consolidated will be the favorite to win the 13-5A girls meet, with a challenge from Harker Heights. Sprinter Whitney Harris leads Consol, which has its usual advantage in the distance races keyed by state finalist Keri Wood, who has run 5:09.79 in the 1,600. The Lady Tigers also have a pair of 11-foot pole vaulters in Kris Wulfson (11-7) and Samantha Villacin (11-0).
Temple is the boys favorite, with sprinter Lache Seastrunk, hurdler and triple jumper Tevin Reese and high jumper Harry Sheppard. If Bryan can stay close to the Wildcats in the field events, the Vikings also could make a run at the district title.
NOTES -- Field events begin at 10 a.m. Thursday and running preliminaries at 3 p.m. with the 3,200 final to follow. On Friday, field events begin at 1 p.m. with running finals starting at 5 p.m.
• David Campbell's e-mail address is david.campbell@theeagle.com.
