The Rowan women’s track and field team have found themselves a standout rookie. In addition to her pursuit of being an athletic trainer, Paris Moore has provided the team with a set of young and energetic fresh legs.
Moore comes from a high pedigree, as her father was an All-American runner at Rowan during his time here. Despite this, she was having a hard time adjusting to the everyday life of a college athlete.
“It is so different,” Moore said. “It is a lot more challenging than high school. My team in high school was great but I did not have anyone to push me, all these girls here are so talented and push me to be my best. Another thing that is difficult is the workouts but the coaches really help push me through it.”
One of those coaches is her head coach, Derick “Ringo” Adamson, who feels like he has begun to see progress in her development.
“It is starting to come around for her,” Ringo said. “Sometimes at the beginning, they lose confidence. They compare themselves to the upperclassmen. You just cannot do that because they have been training for years already with us. They did not get this way without being where you are. Now she has to trust the process as they did and she will get there. As soon as you get a little bit of success, you are going to get that confidence to succeed.”
Even with it being early in the outdoor season, Moore has already started to see that small bit of success Ringo mentioned. She was named as the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Rookie of the Week last week after her great performance in the 400 meter race, where she placed second.
“I really did not know what that was at first if I am being honest,” Moore said. “When I figured out what that was I felt amazing and great. It made me want to work harder because I had no idea I could do that.”
In addition to boosting Moore’s confidence, her performance in the 400 meter race has shown her head coach that she’s been taking his advice and providing the team with some flexibility.
“Everybody comes in and they want to run the glamor event which is the 100 meter race,” Ringo said. “While there is nothing wrong with that, you better get used to running a 400 meter race and things like that because the 100 meter hurts. You need strength and speed to be good at the 100 meter. It also builds so much confidence for her to finish so high in that 400 meter race.”
While Moore is currently taking it day by day, she has high aspirations for her next four years here at Rowan University.
“I just want to continue getting better this season,” Moore said. “My times are good for a freshman but I know I can do a lot better. And I do not want to sound cocky about my long-term goals, but I saw my teammates get All-American and now I want to do that in my four years here.”
After being teammates with her father throughout college, Ringo has all the confidence in the world that Moore can reach the goals that she set for herself.
“She can absolutely be an All-American one day,” Ringo said. “She just has to believe in herself, she will get there. Her dad ran here, he was a three time All-American. All I am gonna say is genes do not lie.”
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