Jaida Moore is back with the Alton girls track program this spring.
This time, she’s the head coach.
“I love it,” said Moore, who graduated from AHS in 2010. “It still gives me an adrenaline rush as if I’m out there competing myself. There are ups and downs in anything, but with this being my first year, I’m just trying to figure out what I need to do and I need to work on to make sure we constantly excel.”
Moore is coaching track for the first time. She replaced a legendary coach in Terry Mitchell, who retired after the 2016 season. Mitchell coached the Redbirds’ girls track program for 21 years and had a total of five all-state medalists.
“That’s my coach,” Moore said. “He’s amazing. I don’t know if I could fill his shoes. I’m going to do my best to try to fill his shoes.”
Moore was a standout athlete at AHS, qualifying for the state meet in the 100 and 200 in her senior year and three relay events in her junior year. She went to compete in track at Eastern Illinois University before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2014.
Now, she’s taking over a team that lost its best athlete in program history — LaJarvia Brown — to graduation. Brown, who is now competing at Texas A&M University, earned nine all-state medals, including three championships in the triple jump.
Moore has 30 girls on her team.
“We work together to try to get these girls to where they need to be to where they’re able to excel at state,” said Moore, who coached basketball at Alton Middle School. “We want to become a better team, so we don’t have to put so much pressure on one athlete.”
Junior Katie Mans is the top returning athlete from last year’s team that finished runner-up to Lincoln Way-East in the Class 3A state meet. She placed in the high jump at state in each of the last two years. This year, she has five first-place finishes in the high jump.
“I can’t wait to see her compete,” Moore said. “We want to keep knocking down her mark. Her best jump is a 5-7 last year. We want to try to exceed that and place higher at state. That’s always the ultimate goal.”
The first-year Alton coach also has high hopes for Mans’ younger sister, Kellie. She won the 400 at the Alton Invitational on April 20, her first victory of the season. Kellie is a sophomore.
“She’s initially an 800 runner,” Moore said. “She’s going to be a 400 runner now. She ran tremendously. She looked really strong coming in.”
The Redbirds also have been getting a strong effort from sophomore Jeanea Epps in the sprinting events. She has had top-5 finishes in the 100 in three meets this season.
Tyriss Holloway, Kimbreon Knight, Ayonna Clanton and Anyria Goner make up the senior class. They were honored before the Alton Invitational.
Holloway has been Alton’s top performer in the pole vault, placing in the top five in three meets. Knight finished in the top 10 in the 300-meter hurdles three times, including a second-place finish in the Belleville West Invitational.
“I feel like that’s small for track,” Moore said. “We want to get our numbers to grow. Those girls work hard for me. They give me everything they’ve got. They’re going to be truly missed.”
Juniors Diarra Smith and Kennedi Freeman, sophomores Bria Thurmond, Daysha Lacey and Hananiah Hamilton and freshmen Raya Tally, Danita Smith, Rashia Johnson, Ivoree Lacey, Madeline Brahler, Lauren Weiner, Alyssa Bean, Corinne Mason El and Jessica Markel are among the other athletes on the team. Tally competed in the shot put in the Illinois Elementary School Association state meet while she was an eighth-grader at Alton Middle School last year.
The Redbirds finished seventh out of nine teams with 55 points at the Alton Invitational. Kellie Mans was the team’s only champion.
“I thought we competed well,” Moore said. “We were missing a lot of athletes. Even with that being said, we still went hard and we were dropping times, in a sense.”
Alton also placed second in the Jersey Invitational, fourth at the Belleville West Invitational, sixth at the Southwestern Illinois Relays and seventh at the Edwardsville Tiger Relays.