ROCK HILL, S.C. – Coming off of a pair of podium finishes against a stacked, Division I field at the VMI Indoor Classic, junior sprinter Devon Moore (Baxley, Ga.) was named the South Atlantic Conference AstroTurf Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Week for the third time this season.
For the fourth-straight invite, Moore stood atop the podium in an event that he participated in winning the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.24 – a season best mark. In the 60-meter dash, Moore earned a pair of victories in the prelims and semifinals before a second-place finish in the finals with a time of 6.79 seconds.
Practicing with assistant coach Kieran Showler-Davis, Moore has seen a refinement to his craft this season.
"He's working to become more technical," head coach David Needs said. "And as he becomes more technical as a runner, because he already has the natural talent, what he's seeing and experiencing is a personal best every time he runs. In track and field you're only as good as your personal best, because that's the number by which you're measured.
"What's great about Devon is that number keeps changing every week. For him, there's a lot of growth because there has been a lot of improvement."
Moore in the 60 last month at the Finn Pincus Invitational set a Division II leading time with a 6.69 speed in the semifinals. The speed is the third fastest in the country now, and he is one of seven athletes with an automatic qualifying time to the NCAA National Championships later this year.
His 200 speed last weekend is the sixth fastest time in the country at the Division II level and was three one-hundredths of a second away from the automatic qualifying mark of 21.21.
Moore is joined alongside Mason Phillips of Northwood (Mich.) as an athlete to be in the top-10 in both the 60 and 200.
"Coach Needs started off with challenging me by running a 21.2 and I accepted the challenge," Moore said. "I just went out there and did my best…I felt like I just ran my race and not the other runners control my pace. I just ran at my speed."
With the conference championships looming, coach Needs called the upcoming event a "measuring stick" for Moore and C-N against the rest of the competitors in the SAC. While track and field is typically going up against the fastest time an athlete has already run, the championship meet is an exception.
"This (conference championship) is truly you against somebody else. Now we get to see what kind of competitors our athletes are."
C-N will travel to Winston Salem, N.C. for the SAC Track and Field Championships slated for Feb. 29-March 1 at the JDL Fast Track.
