Editor’s note: This is a regular feature profiling senior athletes at Bryant High School.
Melinda Murdock
NAME: Melinda Murdock
PARENTS: Steven Murdock, Melissa Murdock, Marcelle Morton and Sulaica Morton
SIBLINGS: Tabitha Charles, Steven Murdock Jr., Brendan Murdock, Aubry Murdock and Austin Bass.
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: English
FAVORITE SPARE TIME ACTIVITY: Watch movies.
FAVORITE FOOD: Seafood
FAVORITE MUSIC ARTIST OR GROUP: Bruno Mars
FAVORITE MOVIE: The Notebook
FAVORITE TV SHOW: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A KID? My Hungry Hippo toy.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL? Attending college at the University of Memphis and majoring in Psychology to become a clinical psychologist, and running track and field.
OTHER THAN YOUR PARENTS, WHO’S HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR LIFE? HOW? God’s had a huge influence. My faith means the most to me. He helps me in everything.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT TRACK? I just love competing. I love competition. My favorite thing is probably just being with the team. I love my team. They’re like my family.
EVENTS? I run the 800 meter, the 100 meter hurdles, sometimes the 300 meter hurdles, the long jump, the 4×100, the 4×400.
WHAT APPROACH DO YOU TAKE TO YOUR EVENT? Mostly I just try to stay positive, do all my stretching and everything. I really don’t have too much of a strategy. I just try to stay positive and tell myself I can do it and go at it.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SEASON SO FAR? It’s gone really good. For us, we started as a small team, not many people tried out and we’ve had injuries, but we’ve done so well so far. I’m proud of how we’ve done.
WHAT’S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON SO FAR? For me, it’s been the home meet. I was so happy for us to win our home meet because it’s my last one.
WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE FOR THE TEAM TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT CONFERENCE AND STATE? For everybody to do their individual part, because track is kind of an individual sport and it’s a team sport. So, if everyone does their own part then definitely we’ll be successful.
TALK ABOUT YOUR EVENTS NOW; WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST ASSET? WHAT ARE YOU MOST CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY TO DO? I think what I bring to the team is I’m so versatile. I do so many different events. The 800 meter is my main event but I can do several other events that can accumulate points for the team. That’s what I bring to the team, and energy too.
WHAT DO YOU WORK HARDEST IN PRACTICE TO IMPROVE ON? My finish because I tend to die in the end and get fatigued. So I really focus on the finish because that’s the most important part of the race for me.
WHEN YOU’RE THROUGH RUNNING TRACK AT BRYANT HIGH SCHOOL, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL LOOK BACK AND REMEMBER MOST FONDLY ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE? Definitely my team; those girls are my best friends, they’re my family. I’ll remember my coaches. I love my coaches. I love Coach (Danny) Westbrook. So, everybody that’s here, I’ll remember.
Anonymous
Go Mimi 🙂