By Tom Worgo
Recent Old Mill graduate Diamond Moore is extremely athletic, caring, and eager to support her peers. Those redeeming qualities explain why she wants to be a nurse midwife. It's a path she's been thinking about for a couple of years.
“I am a very helpful person,” says Moore, who will study nursing at Morgan State University and wants to follow in the footsteps of her mother Quianna Hinton, a long-time visiting nurse. “I looked up to her, and I like to help her out. I have (four younger siblings), and I am always helping them and pushing them to do better.
“My mom worked in the medical field (for eight years) and I got interested in that because you can really make a difference,” she adds.
Moore will be challenged at Morgan State by more than just the tough course loads that come with studying nursing, which involves some science and math classes. She's going to run cross country in the fall to help her prepare for a difficult indoor and outdoor track season.
Moore won 19 individual championships in her four years on the varsity track team at Old Mill in field, running, and jumping events while carrying a 3.1-grade point average.
But at Morgan State, her track skills will be thoroughly tested—starting in the winter—by competing in the seven-event heptathlon, which includes the high jump, long jump, triple jump, 800 meters, the shot put, and the discus. Moore, a Glen Burnie resident, always did four events in high school meets.
“It's very difficult to do that,” Morgan State Head Coach Neville Hodge says of the heptathlon. “You have to be very disciplined. You have to be able to do all those events. You don't find that many that can do that.”
To prepare for competing at the college level, the 18-year-old Moore ratcheted up her workout schedule this summer.
She reported to Morgan June 24th and started working immediately with the school's strength and conditioning coaches, Thomas DiStasio and Tommy King. The 5-foot-8 Moore trained up to two hours per day for three days a week. The other days she worked out on her own for about two hours a day. “I have to work out like out like I have never before,” Moore says. “I will have to do more running, lifting, and endurance stuff. I will be going against the top college track athletes.”
Moore's success this past spring at Old Mill gave her a big dose of confidence going into college. She finished second in the Class 4A state meet in the high jump, won regional championships in the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and 300 hurdles, and also captured county titles in the triple jump, high jump, and 100 hurdles.
Old Mill indoor and outdoor Head Track Coach Carrie Klimes says Moore's outstanding work ethic allowed her to dominate for the Patriots. “I have been coaching track at Old Mill for seven years and as an assistant or head coach,” Klimes explains. “She's the hardest worker I've ever had. Diamond doesn't like to lose.
If someone is beating her, she will put in the extra hours even when the coaches aren't around to get herself better.”
Klimes stresses Moore's work ethic won't change once she gets to college to compete for the Bears. Moore, a Patriots' co-captain the past two seasons, arrived at Old Mill practices before any of her teammates and was often the last one to leave.
“I think she will have an excellent college career,” the coach explains. “I would not be surprised if she is not winning (Mid-Eastern Athletic) conference events after a year or two.”
