Nearly 20 years ago, Penn State's first African-American superstar in women's track & field set three school records in indoor and outdoor sprint races that still stand. She was competing at the highest level of the NCAA and even made the U.S. Olympic team of 2004.
Her name is Consuella Moore but everyone calls her Connie. From 2000-04, Moore was honored 11 times as an All-American, still the most in Penn State history. During this time, Moore set school records in the indoor 200- and 60- meters and outdoor 100- and 200- meters. She still holds three of the records, losing the 60-meter mark in 2010 to Shavon Greaves. She also was part of the 2004 4x200-meter relay team that set a record since broken.
It was in March of 2004 on the campus of the University of Arkansas that Moore set the NCAA record for the women's 200-meter sprint, only to lose it a few minutes later. That was her biggest disappointment in a sprinting career that continued for several years after leaving Penn State. She remembers almost missing the championship race because "I did not get out of the blocks in the preliminaries." However, her time was good enough to qualify.
"I had a free spirit going into the finals and when I took off, I felt I was flying because I was so relaxed," Moore said in a recent interview. She remembers beating two other women across the finish line and was euphoric when told she had won with a time of 22.16 seconds. But a short time later, two women surpassed Moore's time and she wound up third.
After qualifying for the 4x100 relay team in the Athens Olympic Games, she was pulled from the race moments before it started.
"I had a slight foot issue and they didn't want to risk it, so they went with Marion Jones instead of me," Moore recalled. The team dominated the preliminaries but missed a baton pass in the finals and finished last. "I was disappointed I didn't get to compete because the opportunity to be in the Olympics doesn't come around that much," she said, "but I was excited about the opportunity to be there."
Moore has melded her athletic skills with her Penn State psychology degree and MBA from the University of Phoenix into a business in Kissimmee, Florida. When she quit competing, she began training male and female athletes and one of her clients was former Penn State running back and current New York Giant star Saquon Barkley. Moore said the prime part of her business nowadays is "a contract with the U.S. Air Force that helps ill and injured airmen recover through sports and other adaptive sports activities.
"We take them through sports – track, field, cycling, swimming, shooting, archery, power-lifting, rowing – and wheelchair sports – basketball, rugby, volleyball. We use these activities to (determine) what happens next with their life. We work with everyone suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, cancer and more. Near the end of the year, they compete in what we call Warrior Games at Disney World. In January, we'll have an international version of the Warrior Games and this year I will be the head coach for the Air Force team. "
Although Moore is single, she keeps in contact with her family in her hometown of Chicago. She is one of 14 children with her mother, father and most of her six sisters and four brothers still living there. Athletics are in the family genes. Her mother worked in the fitness industry and still does personal training while her father was a black-belt machado hap kido competitor.
Penn State's women track and field program did not start until 1974, nearly a century after the men's team became the school's third intercollegiate sport in 1891. Of all the Nittany Lion women who have competed in the sport since then, Consuella "Connie" Moore has been the best.
