FPD grad Titus Moore set for elite national track meet Friday

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Keeping Titus Moore still isn’t easy.

          The FPD grad was a multi-sport standout for the Vikings, in football, basketball, and track.

          The recipient of scholarship offers in those sports is an indication that Moore doesn’t waste time.

          But he had to sit still Thursday as he sat in car with his parents for a drive from Macon to the Midwest.

          Moore is in Bloomington, Ind., to compete in the USA Track & Field Junior Outdoor Championships.

          The first round is Friday at 4:05 p.m., with the finals at 6:30 p.m.

          It’s the most impressive field Moore has been a part of.

          “I’ve been working really hard,” Moore said. “More like butterflies. I think I’m pretty prepared.”

          According to the USATF website, Moore’s qualifying mark of 14.15 ranks him 11th among 16 competitors.

          Seven runners have sub-14 times as their qualifying mark. One of those is another Georgian, Cam Murray of Westlake, with a 13.53.

          Moore’s top time this spring is 13.8, coming at the GHSA Class A sectionals. That was the time that clinched a full track scholarship at Samford, which also wants him for football.

          FPD associate track coach Chris Wilson timed Moore Wednesday after workouts, and Moore clocked a 14.0.

          Wilson, a former multi-sport standout at FPD and head track coach from 1999-2004 who has returned to the staff, said Moore is primed as he enters this high-level meet.

          “He’s so self-motivated because he’s such a true track guy,” Wilson said. "He's already in that (NCAA) type of level."

          Moore, FPD’s athlete of the year, won the GHSA Class A Private hurdles with a 14.15, coming after a 13.8 that surprised him.

          “It was a perfect day, perfect environment,” Moore said of that personal record. “I had an early morning, getting first in my long jump, so I was pretty adrenalized for that. It was a perfect day altogether.”

          The race itself sure didn’t feel that way.

          “It felt like a very sloppy race, it really did,” Moore said. “I was really excited when I heard the time because if I feel like I’m running a sloppy race and running that type of time, that means I can do a lot more and get a lot faster time.

          “That really excited me."