University of Georgia Athletics
Boling, Moore Just Getting Started
July 02, 2019 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Petros Kyprianou didn't look smug sitting in his office after lunch Monday, though it would be hard to blame the Georgia track and field coach if he had. No, Kyprianou just looked happy and proud and eager as he talked about two heralded members of his highly acclaimed incoming freshman class.
Last week, sprinter and jumper Matthew Boling and jumper Jasmine Moore were named the Gatorade National Track and Field Athletes of the Year. They're two of the eight members of the class, Kyprianou's "Great Eight," that are or were the national high school leader in 2019 in their respective events.
The Gatorade award is about as big as it gets in prep sports in the U.S. and the boys and girls winners for track and field will be Bulldogs very soon. How's that for a good reason to smile if you're Kyprianou?
"It wasn't a surprise, especially after they were doing what they've been doing the last few months, but when we signed them we couldn't tell that these two were going to end up with the National Gatorade awards. ... For that to be two Georgia signees, from Texas, that know each other and are coming here, that's pretty special and it feels great," said Kyprianou, who recently returned from a cross-country motorcycle ride on Route 66 to raise money for CURE Childhood Cancer.
Both Boling, from Houston, and Moore, from Mansfield (in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex), followed along on social media as Kyprianou crossed the country on his huge Indian motorcycle — "He's really crazy for doing that one," Moore said with a laugh — and both said they liked that their new coach, while very driven to excel and achieve when it comes to track and field, also has passions away from the sport.
"I know he loves watches and motorcycles," Boling said.." It's cool to see him doing other stuff. Everybody has a hobby that they do outside of the sport, so it's cool to see him using his hobby to raise awareness and better other people's lives."
So Boling, whose performances on the track in recent months have twice gone viral on the internet resulting in a level of fame usually reserved for prep basketball and football stars, does he have any hobbies?
"Mine aren't as cool as Coach Petros'," he said with a big laugh. "I guess playing video games and hanging out with friends. I'm a high schooler so I have some time to figure out other hobbies. I'm just being a kid right now."
What about Moore?
"That's one of the things I've been working on, trying to find other things, because track has been such a big part of my life for so long," she said. "I was talking to my parents just the other day and track means the world to me, but I also know that one day it's going to end and I'm going to have to do real-life things.
"I still care so much about it and I'm excited for the next four years, but I also want to learn about myself and find other things that I'm interested in."
Seems like actual hobbies, those described as such, typically officially appear around the time of the first gray hairs. And like Boling said, they're still kind of, sort of kids.
Though the past few months for Boling haven't been like those of the typical kid — the sprinting sensation is up over 120,000 Instagram followers and that total keeps on climbing, and last month he was the subject of a big profile in Sports Illustrated.
When Boling ran a wind-aided 9.98 in the 100 meters in March, everything changed — millions have since watched the clip online. It was the fastest 100 meters ever, regardless of wind, by a high-schooler. He later ran a 10.13 at the Class 6A state championships, setting the national prep wind-legal record.
"I don't really know, I just don't let it go to my head," he said when I asked how he's stayed grounded over the past four months. Kyprianou credited Boling's parents, Mark and Monique, for keeping things as normal as possible.
"To keep a kid like that, getting all that attention, grounded and normal, you've got to have good parents," Kyprianou said.
That 10.13 would be the fifth-fastest 100 ever by a Bulldog. Georgia's top time is 9.99, set by Kendal Williams in the 2018 SEC Championships. Boling's personal best in the 200,
Kyprianou thinks Boling's best event may be the long jump, where he's already jumped 26-3.5 (that ranks 10th nationally among all American long jumpers this year). The best long jump in Georgia program history is Marcus Bailey's 26-5.50 in 1994.
Boling also went viral with his stunning chase-down in the 4x400 relay at the state championships in May. With a split of 44.75, which would have been the fastest 400 time in Georgia history by more than half a second, Boling not only erased a deficit of more than 30 yards, but he won going away. One version of the video, FloTrack's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0NPo8ZyF_o) has nearly 2,500,000 views since it was posted May 12.
"It is huge because if you want to be a destination program ... you've got to establish a niche. Unfortunately, our niche being field events is not sexy enough today, regardless of having all these Olympians and the Keturah Orjis of the world, and nobody can match that, but people need a Herschel Walker, kind of," Kyprianou said.
Incidentally, Herschel Walker's fastest 100-meter time at Georgia was 10.23. Yes, Boling is faster than Herschel, at least on the track.
And while you're chewing on that for a moment, consider this: Keturah Orji is the greatest women's triple jumper in collegiate history, having won seven of a possible eight NCAA titles in the event and owning the collegiate record, but it's Moore that has the better personal best at the time they arrived at Georgia.
Moore jumped 44-feet 10-inches while winning a fourth straight Class 6A state triple jump title, setting a new national prep record in the process. Moore had already jumped 44-2.5 before her final meet, taking second place on the all-time prep list away from a former Mt. Olive, N.J., high schooler named Orji, who hit 44-2 in high school.
"Honestly, Jasmine was well trained in high school and Keturah was not, so I think that's the biggest difference that those two have," Kyprianou said.
Orji went on to own the collegiate triple, winning seven NCAA titles during her spectacular Georgia career (and she won a title in the long jump in her final meet, giving her eight individual national titles and the 2018 NCAA Indoor team title).
Orji's official collegiate record in the triple jump is 47-11.75, which she set at the 2018 SEC Outdoor Championships. She hit 48-3.25 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, bettering her own American record and missing out on the bronze medal by less than an inch. The American record is now 48-8.25, set by Tori Franklin last year.
Moore's 44-10 would rank third all-time at Georgia, behind Orji and Icolyn Kelly (45-0). Orji also owns Georgia's outdoor long jump record of 22-4.25, just ahead of the 22-2.25 current Bulldog Aliyah Whisby landed earlier this year. Moore's best mark of
Orji has the top triple in the U.S. so far this year, 48-1.25, and Moore's ranked eighth.
"She was one of the reasons why I chose Georgia," Moore said of Orji, the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year. "She's not only an amazing athlete but her as a person and her academics as well, I'm hoping that she can be a mentor when I get there and then hopefully I'll be able to train with her and just learn as much as I can from her."
No, Kyprianou wasn't looking smug in his office Monday. It was a smile of excitement for what two future Bulldogs have already done and what they might do in the years ahead while wearing the red and black.
"We want to be a destination program and you've got to have athletes like that," he said, and they'll be here very soon.
Moore is taking the summer off from competition before she begins the collegiate grind, while Boling last month won the 100 and 200
at the USATF U20 National Track and Field Championships, qualifying for the Pan American Junior Championships later this month in Costa Rica.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
