SFIS star thrower signs for D-III school
Jordan Moya just wanted a place where she could feel successful.
The Santa Fe Indian School senior found it in the throwing circle.
Moya made the transformation from the basketball court to the track and field complex in just two years, and the reward was signing a letter of intent to compete as a thrower at Cornell College on Monday.
Moya, who is considered one of the top throwers in the discus and shot put in Class 4A, already earned a full-ride academic scholarship to the school, but she wanted to continue her track and field career, too.
And to think she came to the sport as a sophomore, having given up on basketball because of her size.
“I’d have some of my basketball coaches say, ‘Oh, your foot is too big, we’re not going to order you team shoes,’ ” Moya said. “Or they’d say, ‘Oh, you can’t run,’ or, ‘We have a replacement for you.’ I felt all of that bullying helped me persevere. And now, I’m in a sport where it embraces the tall and really big athlete.”
It wasn’t just limited to the basketball court. Moya said she was bullied almost daily growing up because of her size.
“It was something I always struggled with because I was always much bigger than the athletes I played with,” Moya said. “In the mid-school, it was pretty bad.”
After giving up on basketball after her freshman year, assistant track coach Mike Gorospe encouraged Moya to give track and field a try. Coached by her dad, Anthony Moya, Jordan worked her way into a solid shot-put performer.
“She’s dealt well with that,” SFIS head track and field coach Joe Calabaza said. “She’s continuing to grow. In fact, since her dad coaches [girls basketball] at Santa Fe High, I had her start the season with the throwers.”
Moya’s qualifications make her an easy choice. She qualified in the event for the Class 4A state meet last year, but she fractured her right hand just days before the District 5-4A meet.
Still, Moya finished third at the district meet and ninth at state despite wearing a cast on her hand.
“I was switching my technique, which wasn’t smart,” Jordan Moya said. “I was switching it to the rotation-spin technique, and that fractured my hand. It was tough. I had hopes of getting up on the podium.”
The injury motivated Moya to work harder in the offseason. She’s been lifting weights and running during the fall and winter, and she competed at an indoor meet in Albuquerque in January, firing off a 27-foot throw in her first attempt since last spring.
“Like I said, I was just working out lifting and running,” Moya said. “Like, ‘I’m not gonna throw in practice. I’m just gonna show and see what I got.’ I ended up placing in the middle, and those are really elite throwers.”
In a class in which she will compete against Las Vegas Robertson’s Angelica Montoya and defending champion Aysia Salas of Silver, Moya hopes to be able to not just finish on the podium for the Lady Braves. She wants to be an example to other girls her size, showing them that they are just as capable of competing and succeeding.
“I think a lot of athletes, because of their size, are ashamed to play basketball and volleyball,” Moya said. “I feel like track is a perfect fit. I am hoping that with my story coming out, will start recruiting everybody out — and not even just from Santa Fe Indian School — that it’s OK to be a thrower.”