By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Add St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine’s quarter-miler Megan Moss as the latest Bahamian to join the University of Kentucky Wildcats’ track and field programme.

She heads to UK where there is a strong Bahamian presence with Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene in his first year as the head coach. He has acquired ‘Golden Girl’ Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie from the University of Houston as an assistant coach and St Anne’s graduate Divine Parker begins her freshman year as a sprinter.

Tim Hall, who coaches American sprinter Christian Coleman, is also a part of the coaching staff.

Moss, the 16-year-old sensation, signed her letter of intent to study at UK once she has completed her senior year and graduates from SAC in June.

Despite what has been a turbulent year, Moss recovered from injuries to make three national teams, all while losing two grandparents in the space of 10 days in February and March before her personal coach for the past eight years - Dianne Woodside - took a sabbatical from the sport.

Her father Tito Moss, who took over her coaching in forming the new Red Line Track Club out of Club Monica and coach Woodside, said the decision was based on several factors, including the Bahamian connection already established there.

“It was a very difficult choice trying to narrow it down,” coach Moss said. “As a family, we talked about it and prayed about it and compared universities.

“It was very difficult because Megan had a total of 32 offers and we narrowed it down to the University of Kentucky, Texas Tech and Tennessee. From there, looking at her strength in the 400, we decided to go to the University of Kentucky.”

Coach Moss, making the visits to the schools with his daughter, said they envision that UK will have a very dynamic programme next year and it would be the best fit for her to file in line.

“She’s very excited. She’s looking forward to the next chapter in her athletic career,” Moss pointed out. “She’s looking forward to it because she will have Divine Parker there as well. She was a host when she visited the school.”

However, before she takes the next step, Moss said his daughter has some unfinished business to take care of. “She’s looking forward to another CARIFTA , also one more BAISS and one more Penn Relays for St Augustine’s College,” he said.

“Finally, for next season, she’s looking forward to being a part of the Bahamas team for the IAAF World Championships that is going to Doha, Qatar. All of this is en-route to her heading to college next season.”

In a progress report, coach Moss indicated that his daughter has recuperated from the slight tear in her hamstring in her right leg. “She’s off active rest. She’s back in training,” he said. “But we are paying special attention to it, making sure that this season ahead is not one where the hamstring is a factor and prohibiting her from reaching her maximum performance.

“We did ultrasounds and MRIs. She was in Argentina getting treatment and that went straight on through when she reached back here. We have done everything medically to make sure that she gets what she needs to get back to 100 per cent.”

Coach Moss said they are quite pleased with the progress she has made and continues to make on her road to recovery.

As the first of three children born to Nekeva and Tito Moss on March 22, 2002, Megan is considered to be a focused, goal-oriented young lady that has a real passion for her sport.

She is a successful female track and field athlete that has worked hard at refining her ‘craft’. Though still very young she has represented her club, schools and country at numerous games locally, regionally and internationally.

At the age of 11, Moss made her debut on the national team at the Caribbean Union of Teachers Track (CUT) meet in Jamaica in July, 2012. Three years later in 2015, she participated in the CAC Age Group Nationals in Trinidad and Tobago where she placed fourth overall.

In 2015, she was again privileged to represent both her school and country at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school’s 4x100m relay team made it to the Championships of America Final and the team placed 6th out of 600 schools.

Moss attended the Atlanta Georgia Relays for the first time in 2016 where she broke two records in the 100m and 200m dash, both of which still stand. She also made her first CARIFTA team that year, winning two silver medals in the 4x100m and the 4x400m under-18 division and was fourth in the 200m dash final.

Again, Moss represented the Bahamas at the CUT Games in Tortola, British Virgin Islands that year, placing second overall in the 200m dash.

And she also represented St Augustine’s College at the Penn Relays as the Big Red Machine finished fifth in the Championships of America 4x100m out of more than 500 high school teams.

Last year, Moss continued her athletic success at the CARIFTA Games in Curacao, winning a gold in the 400m with a new personal best of 53.89 and a fourth place finish in the 200m in a personal best of 24.01. She was a part of the under-18 girls winning 4 x 100m relay team.

In May, she returned to the Penn Relays where she assisted SAC in advancing to the Championships of America 4x100m relay for the third consecutive year before she competed at the Atlanta Georgia Relays, winning two silver medals in the 100m and 200m dash in a new age group in the 15-16 division.

Sidelined for most of the club meets this year because of injury, Moss did qualify for CARIFTA where she repeated her gold medal performance in the 400m before the home crowd at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

Moss broke the old games record set by Shaunae Miller-Uibo in a time of 53.19 and she also collected two additional silvers in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays in the under-17 girls’ division.

For the fourth year in a row she represented St Augustine’s College at the Penn Relays where they advanced to the Championships of America in the 4x100m relay, the first time the Big Red Machine achieved the feat.

In May, Moss also attended the Atlanta Georgia Relays for the third straight year where she was featured in the 400m and placed third in 53.89.

In July, she was selected to represent the Bahamas at the World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland, but due to injury she was not able to travel to compete.

However, she was afforded the opportunity to represent the Bahamas for the first time at the 3rd Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 400m. She ran through the event with the hamstring injury, but hobbled across the finish line.

Having began her primary school education at St Francis and Joseph Primary school, where she made her mark, Moss maintained a 90 per cent average and led her primary school to their first Catholic Primary School Championship in 2013.

She was also recognised as the most outstanding female athlete in the Catholic primary schools in 2013 and she was chosen as her school’s student of the year and represented them in the national students of the year competition. She was selected as a semi-finalist.

In September 2013, Moss matriculated to St Augustine’s College, where she continued her academic excellence. In 2016 she sat the National Bahamas Junior Certificate Examination, passing five with A grades and one with a B. She was honoured by the Ministry of Education for her excellent results.

In May next year, she intends to sit 9 BGCSEs.

Throughout high school from grades 7-11, Moss has maintained a respectable cumulative GPA of 3.55 and she has earned every colour of medal under her belt in local, regional and international meets as she has travelled around the world.