Feb. 2, 2007

Connie Moore always knew she was fast, but it took a small setback, profuse passion and a big push from a Nittany Lion track and field coach to make her one of the best student-athletes in Penn State history.

In her esteemed career, the south-side Chicago native reset 10 Penn State records, won five Big Ten individual titles, earned All-America status a school-record 11 times and won two gold medals in world-class events. But Moore's accolades are even more remarkable after realizing what she has overcome.

Moore was always competitive with her older brother Mark, and the pair raced constantly. Even though she was beating all the boys in her neighborhood, Moore was not really familiar with track.

In high school, Moore originally wanted to play basketball.  She didn't even compete in organized track until her junior year, when the school's track coach caught her outrunning two boys in gym class. Later that day, the coach approached her about joining the track team in the lunchroom, and Moore has been running ever since.

"I knew whatever I was doing I was fast at it," Moore said. "I just thought it was something to do. I looked at it that that way for a while until I started getting letters from various colleges. When I realized I could get a full scholarship for doing this I just thought `Wow, this is pretty cool. I can get down with this.' I was just doing it for the fun of it."

With her growing success came offers from perennial track and field powers LSU, Texas, Nebraska and Florida, but Moore chose Penn State for its academics and the program's potential to reach that elite level.

Before Moore stepped foot on the PSU campus, the women's track and field program success relied primarily on the throws and distance program. When head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan arrived in University Park at the same time as Moore, the team quickly developed its sprints, jumps and hurdles to find triumph across the board.

Moore's achievements reaped national acclaim for the program's sprints division, and since then several more stars have blossomed at Penn State including 2006 Big Ten Athlete of the Championships Shana Cox.
 
"Connie made our program," Alford-Sullivan said. "She became that person to lead us. She recruited the kids that are here on the team now. She took it to a whole other level. I just can't say enough. She's the face of track and field here at Penn State."

But Moore's future could have been a much different story.

She attended Chicago's South Shore Community Academy, an inner-city high school that was 100 percent black with 98 percent of its students coming from low-income homes. In 2003, less than 5 percent of juniors met Illinois state standards for math, and less than 20 percent of 11th graders met or exceeded reading and writing standards.

But Moore used the track to keep her focused. The faster she finished her homework, the faster she could get to the track, and the future Nittany Lion finished first in her class.

When she arrived at Penn State, however, Moore quickly found herself sidelined from the fast-track to elite status. A self-professed bookworm in high school, she suddenly faltered in the college transition and was forced to sit out the beginning of her collegiate career due to academic ineligibility.

After watching her teammates suit up and race without her, reality sunk in and Moore made a drastic turn-around.

"I didn't know what it meant until that point when I saw my other teammates competing without me," she explained. "Then I knew I had to do it, and I made that turnaround. The first time I stepped on the track in that blue and white uniform meant the world to me.

"Athletes never back down from a challenge. It's the same thing in the classroom. If I could go through track practice every day and go through the tortures I go through in workouts, I could sit down and open up a book. It just reinforced my desire."

Moore is one of the most decorated women's track and field athletes in conference history.

Moore, who graduated in 2004 with a degree in psychology, made a fierce turnaround in her academics and proved her Penn State life would be about more than her time on the track.

Moore spent two years working with young adults with special needs in LifeLink, a program to help students with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 21 adjust to the social atmosphere of independent life with people their own age. As a mentor and counselor, Moore helped these students adapt people skills and living skills by taking them to class or a football game, so they could get adjusted to the social environment of everyday activities and experiences.

In return for her support, Moore found some of her biggest fans. A group of five students from the program even showed up at the Penn Relays one year to cheer her on.

"I was only supposed to be there for a semester for a class, but I got attached," she said. "LifeLink was a huge part of my college life. I still try to stay in touch with the kids."

As much as Moore needed an academic awakening early on, it took a while longer for her to realize exactly what she was capable of athletically.

As a freshman, Moore wasted little time penning Penn State history. At the 2001 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., she quickly became the first Nittany Lion woman ever to earn All-America honors in an event shorter than 800 meters. In 2002, the sophomore crafted a remarkable outdoor season, adding Big Ten Championship gold to her resume in the 100 and 200-meter dashes.

Moore learned during her freshman and sophomore seasons that she could compete on the collegiate level, but when Jeff McAuley signed on as Penn State's sprints coach in August 2002, her running career catapulted to the next level.

"Before he came in I knew I was talented, but I had no clue of the things I could do. He [Coach McAuley] saw something in me that I didn't see in myself until he exposed it. He said, `You're better than what you're displaying - you've just got to let it out,'" Moore said. "I went on to run faster than I ever expected to, and [as a team] we went on to when our first Big Ten title."

In 2003, Moore defended her 100-meter dash title at the conference outdoor meet and shaved 0.2 seconds off her 200-meter time in the NCAAs. But the turning point came at the East Regional Championships when Moore shattered three school records in the 100- and 200-meter races and as the anchor of the 4x100-meter relay.

Clocking a then-personal-best of 22.63 in the 200-meter dash was new territory for Moore and served as the eye-opener she needed.

"When I broke 23 seconds for the first time when I wasn't trying," she said. "[Coach McAuley] just helped me understand that everybody wants to be a champion, but true champions insist upon in. He keeps my spirits up and he keeps me motivated every day."

With newfound determination, Moore was thrust into international competition. She brought home her second gold medal of the summer at the 2003 Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic, running the second leg for the victorious 4x100 meter relay team.

At the games, Moore also had the opportunity to call three-time Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers a teammate.

"It was a fantastic experience," Moore said. "When I was going back to the hotel and she just said, `Keep the dream alive and keep doing what you do. Don't let anyone stop.' She's a very awesome representative of our sport."

The next year, at the 2004 Big Ten Indoor Championships, Moore rewrote conference records with a 23.44 finish in the 200 meters and another gold-medal performance in the 60-meter dash to lead Penn State to its first-ever Big Ten crown in men's or women's track and field.

Moore's title run in the 60 meters was the first time she even placed in the event, but the Athlete of the Championships said her shining moment came with the team's title win.

At the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships in March, Moore again led her squad to another milestone as Penn State claimed its best ever 13th-place finish behind her career-best 22.60 finish in the 200 meters.

A month later, Moore came face-to-face with another track and field legend when she lined up against Marion Jones for the 200 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., in April 2004

Moore scorched the field, carving her own spot among racing's elite with a first-place finish of 22.71, marking the second-fastest time in 2004.

"Coach McAuley told me `No one can beat you in the last 100 meters,' and like a crazy woman, I believed him," Moore said. "That was huge. Knowing I can beat someone significant in the sport did a huge boost for my confidence overall."

With the win, Moore knew she would have a professional career to look forward to, but her sights were set on graduation and her final Big Ten Outdoor Championships.

She did not disappoint. Again earning Athlete of the Year and Championships distinctions, Moore claimed her third-straight 100-meter title and added a win in the 200 meters.

After graduation, Moore inked a deal with Nike - becoming the first women's track and field athlete to turn professional - and decided to make her training base in University Park to prepare for the 2004 Olympics with McAuley.

After finishing fifth in the Olympic Trials, Moore joined Team USA at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens as part of the 4x100 meter relay pool. Although she did not compete, Moore said the experience made her even more motivated in her professional future. Now she is training hard in South Carolina with McAuley, who left Penn State in 2004, in hopes of securing her spot in the 2008 Beijing Games. But this time the former Nittany Lion wants to compete not only in the relay but also individually in the 100 and 200-meter sprints.

"Tears came to my eyes. I thought this is really something," Moore said. "Making the 2004 team just made me want it that much more. Being a part of the opening ceremonies and being respected as the U.S. team, which is the hardest team to make as far as track and field is concerned - especially in the sprints, just showed me that the possibilities are endless. I guess you could say it was almost life changing."

While Moore now spends her days training to don the Red, White and Blue jersey in 2008, her passion for the sport will always be tinted with the Nittany Lion blue and white.