Me and Zach Moss
I have known Zach for about 8 years. I first met him in a 1500 at a KTC Saturday development meet. We were both 10 but he had to be about six inches taller than me, at least. He was a giant compared too little old me. Zach murdered me in that 1500, I do not remember the times but I am pretty sure that I was close too last place. The possibility of finishing in last place is a very probable. He made the competitive team pretty easily, but it took a couple of years for me to join him on the team. He was quite an athlete as a youngster getting top level times including a 4:23 1500 time as a 14 year old. This is a vast improvement from the 4:58 as a 13 year old. He was only 2 seconds behind Kenny Klotz and Kevin Sullivan that year. Zach was born with raw natural talent that could be flashed at any given time. A perfect example is the state meet last spring when he came in with a 4:25 as a PR and ran to a runner-up finish, to Rob Sorrell nonetheless, in 4:18.
He has always been a fun runner to watch. He could run a personal best and whack the field or not run all that well. He ran a 4:32 one week at the 2004 Region Track Championships and ran 5:01 the next week at state. That time may not be the best, but it meant that he could shock you at the next race. He won a couple of region titles in high school for track. However, some bad publicity hit him this year. He was listed as the worst performance in the Knoxville paper which is ridiculous. I think that listing that blurb in your article is worthy of losing your job. I was embarrassed as I am sure he was. Saying that someone was the worst does not help anyone improve nor encourage anyone do try harder. He had one of the fastest times in the mile as a prep in Knoxville since Dusty Miller. I am sure that he shook this off and is looking forward to proving people wrong in the future. Now, I'll return to good things.
He could have a great race on any given day. He also had a great kick that could run down the likes of Michael Coe and Kenneth Cormier. I was witness to this at the region track championships in 2004. Zach was at Karns at the time for that one semester before returning to Jeff. Co. High School. Yarrick was winning the mile by at least 30 yards with 100m to go. Zach was sitting in about 6th place with 200m to go before he took off and caught 4 people who were not in a pack but rather spread out. Now this was the time when for AAA that 2 qualified out of the region and he got second improving from probably 9-10 sec. behind Yarrick to finishing 3 sec. behind.
I think the best race that we have run against each other this spring was at the Big East Challenge at Jeff. Co. High School. We were both not all that excited about running the mile. I had just come off of running a leg on my winning 4X800 and Zach was tired from the past few meets that he had run. We started out in a pedestrian pace that was so slow that I, along with a few other runners, said "Hi" to my mother as she drove by the track (She had to leave for something important). We had to go through the first 400 in probably 80 seconds. No one wanted to take the lead and push the pace. So after forcing Andrew Shankles and Josh Vasquez into the lead a couple of times we went through the 1200 in probably around 3:35-36. Than me, Zach, and Josh took off with Zach in the lead. With a half of a lap to go the top 3 remained the same with Zach in the lead. I was about 5m behind and Josh on my tail. We remained at this position to the finish with Zach running 4:38, I ran 4:39 and Josh at 4:40. We did not run PR times but the race had the most drastic change in pace and turned into one of the better kicking race that I have been a part of.
Me and Zach have had some good times over the years and the next time I'll will see him will probably be down the line at a cross country meet against UTC as he will now go from being my teammate to being my competitor. I wish him the best and good luck. Zach, keep your head on straight, keep working and realize that you have great talent which just needs to consistently be shown at the collegiate level.
Next week I will write about Eric Grubb.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Kane