Katella’s Moreno Has Firm Grasp of Success : Preps: Cross-country runner and wrestler works hard to make his mark in athletics.

Mike Moreno was looking for a way to make himself stand out in a crowd. He tried wrestling. He tried track and field. He even went so far as to get a tattoo on his right arm.

Moreno finally found the avenue to success in cross-country, where he’s moved up from No. 2 runner to No. 1 on Katella’s team his senior year.

Some would argue Moreno has already made his mark at Katella. After all, he’s a three-time All-Empire League runner and was the Knights’ starting varsity wrestler at 103 pounds as a junior. He also has a 3.6 grade-point average.

“He has got an awesome work ethic,” Katella cross-country Coach Dave Wilson said. “He’s definitely one of the most coachable athletes I’ve ever had.”

Katella wrestling Coach Charlie Cheek echoed those sentiments:

“His work habits are amazing. No matter what he does, he is going to do it extremely well.”

At 5 feet 3 and 112 pounds, Moreno is not going to run over you, but he can outrun you. In fact, nearly every cross-country runner in Orange County has found that out the hard way.

In the recent Orange County cross-country championships, Moreno finished the 3.1-mile course at Irvine Regional Park in 15 minutes 9 seconds, trailing only Orange senior Jaime Martinez to the finish line. Although it was Katella’s first team loss of the season--to Santa Ana--and despite a head-over-heels fall after the race’s one-mile mark, Moreno felt a sense of accomplishment.

“I was pretty happy with my performance, but it’s always disappointing when our team loses,” he said.

After the spill on the muddy trail, Moreno quickly jumped up and resumed his role as the leader of Katella, the top-ranked Division II team in the state.

“My right foot landed real solid, but my left foot just slipped and I went down,” Moreno recalled.

Said Wilson: “The fall was a 9.9 on a 10-point scale. I mean, his feet were above his head at one point.”

Falling down has never been a trait of Moreno’s during cross-country season, but during wrestling, he often shows his prowess while on his knees.

“Wrestling puts Mike’s body through a lot of demands that are different demands than ours in track,” Wilson said. “So it takes him a while to get adjusted in the spring.”

Moreno, who finished third in last year’s league wrestling meet, annually drops from his natural weight. Going from around 108 pounds to 103 has rendered him weak through much of the track season.

“He will wrestle at either 112 or 119 for us this year, so he shouldn’t have the problems he has had in the past,” Cheek said.

Many colleges are recruiting Moreno. Though he has received letters from many Ivy League schools as well as Nebraska, Arkansas, Duke, Wake Forest and Georgetown, Moreno is eyeing the Air Force Academy.

“Mike has always been very military in his thinking,” Wilson said. “How he competes and practices makes Air Force a great place for him.”

Moreno is looking forward to the State championships Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno and the Foot Locker Western Regionals Dec. 4 at Woodward Park.

“After last year, I looked at the results from the State meet and realized there weren’t that many seniors coming back,” he said.

“I thought if I worked hard, I could win the State meet.”

Standing in Moreno’s way, among others, is Sacramento Jesuit senior Matt Farley, the state’s defending 3,200 meters champion.

The Foot Locker Regionals will present a new challenge for Moreno, who skipped the race last winter.

“I felt going in that State was going to be my last race of the year,” Moreno said. In the final race of his junior year, he defeated then-teammate and eventual national team member Mike Love.

The top eight runners from each of the four regional competitions compose the field for the National championships race, held Dec. 11 at Balboa Park’s Morley Field in San Diego.

“We’ll see what I can do,” Moreno said of his chances of making the West regional team. “Hopefully I can run a good race and make it.”