New Track & Field Metric: Moss Per Hour

Kimmy Moss, above, races the 800-meter race last Sunday and took third place in her heat. (Photo by Peter Flint)

On your mark, get set, go! For junior Kimmy Moss, a member of the women’s soccer team and track team, the world, in a continuous motion, features dynamic characteristics.

While her athleticism is vastly beneficial to her success, Moss’ ability to adjust and turn the corner from start to finish has been equally vital in her role as a two-sport athlete.

Moss, a tri-sport athlete when she attended Broad Run High School, was named to the first-team All-Met, All-State, All-District and All-Region in her junior and senior seasons and garnered District Player of the Year honors in her junior year while amassing 12 goals and 47 assists in her four years with the Spartans.

Moss came to George Mason University looking for the opportunity in soccer to be part of a competitive team and to contribute individually.

“I definitely wanted to play Division I soccer, but [since Mason is] not at the bottom and not necessarily at the top tier like the ACC teams, I knew coming in I could play and be an immediate impact,” said Moss.

In her first year with Mason, Moss started three of her 14 appearances and managed only three shots, being held pointless for the entire season.

Moss emerged in the 2008 season with a team-leading two game-winning goals, but the Patriots continued to struggle, concluding the season with a meager 5-12-1 overall record and a 2-8-1 conference record.

Despite the two sub-par seasons in soccer, Moss was still passionate about the first sport she ever played. However, she decided to take a slightly different route.

“After having [two rough seasons], I was like ‘You know what? I love competing, but I’m really frustrated with how the season ended; I don’t want to have an awful season, so I’m going to try to walk on for the track team,’” said Moss.

Moss, who last ran cross country in her sophomore year of high school, first considered running for the track team during a family trip.

“The idea came to me when I was apple picking with my family, and with two weeks left to go, it just stuck with me,” said Moss. “I talked to Coach [Andrew] Gerard and Coach [Sita] Waru-Ewell, the long distance coach, and I talked to my soccer coach, and they were like ‘Why not? You can do this.’”

With a year-round training regimen, Moss is able to keep in shape. Whereas most athletes concentrate on a particular sport, Moss has been known for her well-rounded athleticism. Moss believes that her skillset is what makes her suitable for both soccer and track.

“I think the running and soccer thing complement one another,” said Moss, “probably more so with track crossing over to soccer because I have this endurance with running, and when I get on the soccer field, I’m so fit.”

While Moss credits much of her athletic ability to her endurance, she believes that it originates in her passion for playing sports and staying fit.

“For soccer, [my biggest strength is] my endurance, just being like an Energizer bunny on the field, but I think more than anything, I’m really passionate,” said Moss. “Racing is different from track. At the end of the race, you’re literally and physically exhausted. That’s when you show character. I’m still learning to squeeze out every ounce of energy in a race.”

After primarily spending most of her life in soccer, running long distances and changing directions to the movement of the ball for 90 minutes, Moss has also gone through making adjustments in both sports.

“Training year-round is great because you’re always staying fit, but sometimes the fitter I get with track, [it] sometimes pulls me a little away from soccer, and vice versa because you’re focusing on different things.”

Since joining the track team last spring, Moss headed the Patriots with a mile time of 5:18.26 at the Virginia Tech Challenge. She placed second in the 800-meter run at the Mason Last Chance and took third in the 1000-meter run at the Father Diamond Invitational.

In addition to gaining recognition in just her first year with the team, Moss has found the task to be quite challenging. In her experience with both sports, Moss believes that track is more difficult than soccer in preparing for competition.

“You have to be 100 percent prepared [in track],” said Moss. “In a soccer game, sometimes you should be 100 percent prepared before you step onto the field, but you kind of ease your way into it and you can redeem yourself if you mess up. Whereas in track, if you’re not ready, forget about it. You have to be focused for that entire race, especially for a short period of time. It was difficult for me at first, but you have got to channel all of your energy in the two minutes that you’re running.”

While keeping in shape during the spring season, Moss transitions her focus for the upcoming soccer season. After completing her first year with the track team, Moss gained more confidence entering the 2009 soccer season. With an influx of talent to last season’s team, Mason improved to a conference-best 14-4-2 overall record. Despite the disappointment of missing the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, the team featured the growth of its youth. Moss, who played for a perennial top local club soccer team, returned to her winning ways.

Moss, one of the five players to sign to play for Mason in 2007, is one of the two remaining signees from her class. After experiencing frustration in her first couple of seasons at Mason, Moss felt that she matured because of her rookie season.

“I had a rough freshman fall, but I got so much from it,” said Moss. “I wish I hadn’t been so upset and worked up for not playing as much in some games as I thought I deserved to, but when we went to Brazil that year . . . everything all came together. I think I’m mentally stronger because of that.”

In her sophomore year, Moss added scoring goals to her arsenal. She tied for fourth on the team with six points, which included the two game-winning goals earlier in the season.

The Patriots opened conference play in Harrisonburg, Va. against the James Madison Dukes. Already down 1-0 after a goal in the third minute of the first half, Mason scored the equalizer before halftime. With the rain coming down, Mason scored the go-ahead goal on a free kick, which was headed by Moss into the bottom left corner of the goal.

While that score marked her second career goal at Mason, Moss’ most memorable moment came three weeks earlier, when her overtime blasting shot broke the scoreless tie and gave the Patriots their first win of the 2008 season against the Hartford Hawks.

“The game [against Hartford] went into overtime,” said Moss. “I took a 30-to-35-yard shot, left foot — I can see it right now. I cut the ball back and kicked the ball, which hit the post and bounced in, and my entire team just swarmed me. I will never forget that moment. It was an amazing feeling.”

Last season, Moss took up a leadership role and became a prominent figure for the team, especially for the newcomers.

“I’ve been part of this sport for so long that, combined with my personality, it’s natural,” said Moss. “I love helping people out and having an influence on others and seeing that. Just this past year, the freshmen are coming in and [they] are notorious for freaking out when we have fitness tests, so I try to help them with that. I get a satisfaction out of it.”

As a student-athlete, Moss spends the bulk of her time playing sports. In addition to competing on the field and on the track, Moss, a communication major and nutrition minor, is taking a sports journalism class at Mason, hoping to one day follow the footsteps of her father Mike, a morning news anchor for the WTOP radio station.

Moss, a sports editor in her junior year and a managing editor in her senior year for her high school newspaper The Spartan, has always been fascinated by journalism and its evolution in the media. As she continues to lay out the groundwork of her future plans, Moss hopes to get into a career related to her interests: nutrition, sports broadcasting and journalism.

Enjoying the positive moments and coping with her own frustrations, Moss has gone through it all. Whether she considers herself a soccer player or a track runner, or just someone who is conscious about her own health, the bottom line is, as her father advised her, “do what makes you happy.”