Editor’s note: The following contains excerpts from our 2016 1 Awards story on Molly Moore.
SPRINGFIELD — Molly Moore’s true story is one of keeping her family and friends close, working hard is all aspects of her life and showing kindness every day.
“I want to be Ryan who swims, not Ryan the swimmer,” she said, quoting the 11-time Olympic swim medalist Ryan Lochte. “It’s been my motto pretty much. I want to be Molly who swims, and she swims when she needs to. But I don’t want to be known as Molly the swimmer. Like that’s the only thing I’m known for.”
To help her balance out swimming, school and her personal life, Molly keeps a goal board on her bedroom wall, which often features more Ryan Lochte quotes.
Now that she’s met some of her goals, like winning the 50 Freestyle at the state meet in February and setting a new record at the Springfield Natatorium, she checked them off and is ready to win more medals and set more records.
But the board also comes in handy when she needs reminding of life outside of the pool.
Or her life off the trails when she’s not at cross country practice – another sport she loves.
“Sometimes I go straight from cross country to swimming. It’s double commitment, but you’ve still got to do it,” Molly said. “But you feel successful at the end of the day after those practices.
She thanks her school, New Covenant Academy, a private Christian school, for a lot of the success she has had.
“We have tons of athletes in our student body,” Molly explained, also mentioning her own class of 37 students. “Like baseball, the majority of our guys at our school play baseball. Lots of people play volleyball. Lots of people play soccer. And it’s just this continuous cycle of spring sports and fall sports, so everybody is doing something all the time. And the teachers understand that.”
Being a private school, academic excellence is still expected though.
“They’ll work with you if you need help,” Molly said of her teachers. “I think that’s one of the bonuses of going to a private school, too. You get that one-on-one with teachers that you don’t really get at public schools. You’re more comfortable.”
To sum it up, New Covenant Academy is like its own community, and it’s very tight-knit and proud of its athletes.
Molly said her teachers and athletic director even created a “good luck” video for their cross country and swimming teams as they went to state.
“They went to each class and said ‘Good luck!’ to us. They sent it to us when we were up in St. Louis. It was so… you just felt so happy and joyful when they sent it,” Molly smiled. “Every sport pulls for every other sport.”
Merely 1.1 miles south of where the Warriors are lies Summit Preparatory School, which funds New Covenant’s cross country and swimming programs.
In other words, they’re a co-op.
“They support it more than just financially. They support the kids who do it, too,” said Linda.
Moore’s mother, Linda, as well as her twin sister, Laura (McCune) and older brother Kevin, all swam for the Drury Panthers, and before that, they were Glendale Falcons.
All passing on their swimming talents to their children, Laura’s twin daughters, Katie and Claire, swim on Molly’s team, and Kevin’s daughter, Grace, swims for Ozark.
Even her dad, Mickey, is athletic as he coaches golf at New Covenant and grew up playing tennis.
So on top of the support she gets from her school, teammates and coaches, Molly is deeply influenced by her swimming mother, who also coached at Kickapoo for eight years.
Growing up on the pool deck can generate results like that.
“I remember sitting right here and playing with different toys. My mom would take me to meets and I’d be riding on the bus with all the high school kids then.”
Putting her natural talent to work, Molly swims with SPA several days a week.
Also a cross country athlete, Molly runs when she gets the time to build her endurance, strength and make her a better swimmer.
“Running helps my speed in the pool. I swim sprints but run distance,” Molly said. “It builds muscles that you need for swimming, but actually swimming won’t let you build.”
Molly is also looking at picking up a new sport in 2017. New to her and the Missouri State High School Athletics Association, Molly wants to throw javelin during track season.
I told my coach, ‘If you buy a javelin, I will so do javelin.’ He said okay! We have friends from church who threw it last year for the exhibition. Just something about throwing a spear is exciting.”
In addition, she’s involved with FBLA and FCA at her school, and her church, Trinity Lutheran.
“My number one goal in everything I do, winning or losing, is to glorify Christ,” Molly said.
But soon enough, Molly will start focusing more and more on how to retain her 50 Freestyle title.
