Marcellus Moore greets the media after his 100m race
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MIRAMAR, Fla. -- Marcellus Moore and Rachel Hickey are from the same state but traveled two different paths to make the team.
Both athletes are well known, talented, and well liked. Moore is a rising senior at Plainfield North, who in three seasons has etched his name alongside the Mt. Rushmore of Illinois boys track and field. Coming into the weekend with one goal: make the team by any means necessary. Moore appeared fine in his 100m prelim as he did not look or feel rusty, advancing to the final with ease in 10.41. It was all business several hours later for Moore who initially placed fifth in the final to eventual winner Matt Boling of Houston, TX, running 10.37. Moore had exited the track with a certain type of anxiety because he felt impeded near the finish line. A protest was filed against fourth-place finisher Kennedy Lightner of North Little Rock, AR, for impeding. Moore said he was hooked. Lightener actually acknowledged the infraction to Moore and apologized directly to him. After some hours and an appeal by the Lightner camp, Moore was awarded the fourth place spot and a berth on the Pan-Am team. Lightner was disqualified.
Hickey had endured many ups and downs of a freshman year at Illinois State University. The Lasalle-Peru HS alum had a solid cross country season followed by a good indoor track season. It was shortly thereafter that she suffered a stress fracture that derailed her track season. Hickey went through some heartache but fortunately, her confidence never waned. Hickey rehabbed well enough to race in the 1500m where in her first attempt at the distance she made the team! Hickey used a precise plan that allowed her to stalk the field throughout the first half of the race. It was during the second half of the affair that her confidence began to increase and reality set in. Hickey moved into second on the penultimate lap and used her strong leg speed over the final straight to put a padlock on second place in 4:30.91.