Hillsborough's Moore is Courier News Gymnast of the Year

Hillsborough gymnastics coach Elizabeth Murrin wasn't sure what to expect this season from Jocelyn Moore, an incoming freshman whose only previous competition experience was in club gymnastics. 

"I knew a little bit about her because she goes to club gymnastics with a couple of girls on our team. I knew she had a really good club level 9 season last year, so I knew she was going to impact our team," Murrin said. "I think I knew some of what her skills were, and I knew she had the potential to be a major impact, but for a freshman you never know how they’re going to do in a team atmosphere and at first there’s so much transition going on."

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Fortunately for the Raiders, Moore took no time at all adapting to the high school gymnastics atmosphere. Moore won nine event titles this season, and according to Murrin, three titles had been the previous high for a freshman. 

"We have a really rich tradition of great gymnasts at Hillsborough, and she’s by far set the standard for a freshman in comparison to some of the other great athletes who have come before," Murrin said. "She is the greatest freshman who has impacted our program in number of titles and scoring potential."

For her efforts, Moore is the 2017 Courier News Gymnast of the Year. 

“I have competitions for club too, I already knew what competition was like, so it wasn’t my first time competing which was an advantage. In high school it’s more exciting,” said Moore, who started gymnastics when she was eight. “I was doing the same skills I was doing for club, but I had to perfect them for competitions.

“I just want people to know I am just a gymnast, and I try to work hard because I know what I want to accomplish and when I set goals for myself I want to reach them. I really wanted to come out as a freshman and do well, when I went to a few meets and did my best, that was really exciting.”

At the Somerset County Championships, which the Raiders won for the fourth-straight year, Moore took third in the all-around with 37.775, and finished first in the floor exercise (9.625), vault (9.75) and uneven bars (9.45).

Moore then delivered a key performance at the Skyland Conference Championships, leading Hillsborough to the title. She finished first in the all-around with 38.4 points, with first place finishes in the vault and balance beam. She took second in the floor exercise and fourth on the uneven bars. 

"Our Skyland Conference meet was a really good meet for me, and coming out as a freshman that was my first time going to that meet," Moore said. "Doing my best and winning that meet was a big accomplishment." 

Hillsborough then went on to win its fourth-straight Central Section II title as Moore and Samantha Ringel tied for first in the all-around with a 37.6. Moore also took first in the vault and floor exercise. 

At the NJSIAA individual championships, Moore continued her strong season, placing eighth in the all-around with a 37.6, was 16th on balance beam with a 9.3 and finished ninth in the floor exercise with a 9.35. On the uneven bars she finished 18th (9.225) and placed sixth in vault with a 9.725. 

Moore also played a pivotal role in the Raiders placing fourth at the team championships.

"We knew right away from the first day of practice that she had a high level of skill, she’s a tremendously powerful athlete," Murrin said. "Jocelyn was a pleasure to work with, she’s very coachable and she grew a lot in a short amount of time, she grew in maturity of handling competition and in understanding what team gymnastics is really about, so that was fun to work with her and fun to see her grow."

With such a tremendous freshman season behind her, Moore is excited for the future. She will continue to be a driving force for the Raiders and hopes her accomplishments in high school will result in competing in college. 

"Of course I don’t want to go downhill, but knowing that I did well I just want to go back to what I did and next year I can come back and do the same or even better," Moore said. "In the future I would like to do college gymnastics, so hopefully if I keep doing well we’ll see how much potential I have."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego