Devin Moore started wrestling four years ago, with nothing but a mixed martial arts background to draw from. Now a senior at Archbishop Murphy, Moore, a 195-pounder, hopes to cap his prep wrestling career by qualifying for this month’s Mat Classic.
“He’s pretty relaxed, but he gets fired up at times,” Wildcats coach Gustavo Anaya said. “He’s super nice to everybody, but when he wrestles, he’s able to make that switch, which is good to see. He’s competitive, a self-starter, super coachable, and is able to make adjustments and learn new techniques while improving old techniques. He’s a natural leader.”
Here are five things to know about Moore:
1. He wants to outlast his opponents. “That’s a big tactic that I use — I want to be intense the entire match, because I know that when my opponent gets tired, that’s when I make my bigger moves. That’s what’s carried me this far,” Moore said. “This year I’ve been honing that technique and learning how to make (my opponents) tired quicker.”
2. He comes from a lacrosse family. His father, Larry Moore, played at the University of San Francisco and the University of Oxford, and his sister, Kacey, an Archbishop Murphy graduate, is on the women’s lacrosse squad at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Moore started playing in the sixth grade and is a defender for the Archbishop Murphy boys club lacrosse team. “I like lacrosse because it’s so different,” he said. “When I started playing, nobody in Washington had ever heard of it. I thought it was cool how uncommon it was, that’s what drew me to it.”
3. He runs a lawn-care business. Along with wrestling teammate Colin Howell, Moore owns and operates Two Man Army, which provides basic yard maintenance along with a variety of general labor services. “Colin and I were each doing it on our own, but we started getting more clients when we combined forces,” said Moore, who’s a member of Archbishop Murphy’s DECA club. “We have a lot of skills, and market ourselves as do-anything multi-tool labor. If you have a job and you don’t know who to call, call us — maybe we can help you out. We started out just helping family and friends, but now we have about 10 customers who rely on us and call us about every two weeks when they need something. It keeps growing.”
4. After college, he wants to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. “The military is something I’ve wanted to do (for a long time),” said Moore, who has applied to the United States Naval Academy and is interested in studying mechanical engineering. “My mom’s uncle was a big-time two-star general in the Marines, so he planted that seed. As I’ve grown up and explored the idea, (the concept of) serving my country and giving back in that kind of way made that desire more meaningful to me. It’s something I can do to make a tangible difference.”
5. He’s a self-described “gearhead.” In his spare time Moore helps his father restore old cars. “Myself, my dad, my grandfather — the whole Moore family is into automobiles,” Moore said. “I enjoy tinkering with things. We’re always working on an old muscle car in the garage, although right now we’ve got our hands full with a 1957 Chris-Craft Capri wooden speedboat.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
