The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The way she’s running, head coach Rolando “Lonnie” Greene said his University of Kentucky Wildcats sophomore Megan Moss has the potential to be the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Indoor Championships 400 metre champion.

Greene, the Women’s Team Coach of the Year for the Southeast Region, will be coaching Moss and 10 other Wildcats at the NCAA Indoor Nationals, scheduled for this weekend at the Randal Tyson Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“Every coach who has a baby in this meet, hope that they do exceedingly well,” said Greene, who along with Moss form a part of the athletes-coaches combination at the University of Kentucky.

(Also on the squad is sprinter Jaida Knowles, who redshirted her indoor season. “Golden Girl” Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie is an assistant coach.)

“Exceedingly well in my mind is to win. Now, can she win it? I think she has the skills set to do so. But it’s all going to be up to her and how badly she wants to be good,” Greene insisted. “Megan is very talented and I think she’s going to do a good job. If she executes, she has the ability to win it, in my humble opinion. At this level, it’s all about execution. There’s no in between. What you do is going to determine the outcome.”

One thing for sure, Greene assured the Bahamian public that the St Augustine’s College graduate is all hyped up and ready to run “every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

Just how fast can she run?

Greene pegged it around 52-low or 51-high, which could be converted to about 50-second range outdoors. But before she looks ahead to the outdoors, he wants her to concentrate on the goal ahead of her this weekend. She said:

“My expectations for the meet is to definitely just execute my race as best as I can and make it back to the final and do my best to obtain medals in both events I’m competing in.”

Moss said she’s just honoured to be among the best of the best at the nationals.

“I definitely worked hard to get to this point and I’m just so proud and I’m going to keep pushing hard until it’s done.”

Moss, who turns 19 on March 19, is coming off a pair of personal best performances in both the heats and the finals of the Southeastern Conference Championships (SEC) where she finished sixth in 52.32.

She advanced with the fifth fastest qualifying time of 52.65.

Moss also ran on the Wildcats’ 4 x 400m relay team that placed second in 3:28.82, just behind Arkansas, the winners in 3:28.50.

“I feel really great about where I am currently,” she noted. “I have progressed so much, not just in meet performances, but training as well and I am so excited about what’s to come.”

Unlike coach Greene, Moss is not putting any pressure on herself to produce any special time.

“Before I transition to outdoors, I would just like to achieve a new PR indoors along with my goals for the National Indoor Championship.”

And that is to be on the medal podium.

In her freshman year last year, Moss didn’t make it out of the preliminaries after she fell short with 10th place in 53.23. But she did contribute to the University of Kentucky’s runner-up position in the relay in 3:30.42.

Moss is the daughter of coach Tito Moss of Red Line Athletics Track Club, which also involves his wife, Nekeva, in administration.

“We expect Megan to make the final, a top six finish and a PR between 51.9 and 52.10 seconds,” is what her father anticipates she will achieve this weekend.