California state shot put champion, Michigan signee and Murrieta Mesa High graduate part of opening-day schedule in Cali, looking to qualify for final in first global competition

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Cade Moran enjoyed rousing success during his final prep track and field season, but it has also been a demanding schedule for the Murrieta Mesa High graduate.

And as much as he’s learned from success, Moran has also learned the art of pacing himself.

“The past two months, training has been a little bit of a grind, but I’ve taken some vacations in between,” Moran said. “Right after the U20 USA Championships, I went up and took a week’s vacation in Montana, where I didn’t lift or throw.

“I kind of got away from it a bit and reset.”

The standout thrower embarked Friday on a trip of a different kind, one set to put a cherry top of a standout senior year. Moran flew to Cali, Colombia, where he will compete Monday for the United States in the qualifying round of the shot put at the World Athletics U20 Championships.

Moran, one of six athletes entered in the shot put to surpass the 20-meter mark this year, is pursuing a place in Tuesday’s final.

It’s a season that has seen California’s state champion in the shot put transition from elite high school athlete to a budding college star, and perhaps, a future beyond the University of Michigan, where classes begin Aug. 28 in Ann Arbor.

Moran’s season started Jan. 8 in Temecula, and it will come to a close nearly seven months later on foreign soil.

That’s a journey. The last month, he said, has been “crazy.”

“Every day gets a little bit closer, it does seem surreal,” Moran said last week, while still in Murrieta. “I think once I’m on the plane, it will set in a little more.”

Already one of California’s top throwers, Moran turned heads when he topped 200 feet in the discus for the first time in a dual meet April 13 against Temecula Valley, even as he considers the shot put his top event.

His mark that day of 201-6 (61.41m) set a new Riverside County record, breaking a mark that had stood for 20 years and previously held by La Quinta’s Jared Morgan at 200-3 (61.03m) in 2002.

But that was just the beginning.

At the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 prelims May 7, he threw his personal best of 207-4 (63.19m), the best mark in the state and No. 3 high school mark nationally.

“Discus was a big surprise for me this year,” Moran said. “I never considered myself a discus thrower. Even now, even after having multiple meets over 200 (feet), I don’t consider myself a discus thrower.”

Though the discus marks tapered off slightly toward the end of the postseason, the shot put surged. Moran won the CIF-Southern Section Masters meet May 21 in 66-1 (20.14m) after setting his personal best at 66-10 (20.37m) at the Arcadia Invitational in April, a mark that ranked fourth nationally.

Then, May 28 at Buchanan High in Clovis, Moran threw 64-3.25 (19.58m) to defeat Southwestern League rival and runner-up Aiden Pastorian of Great Oak (60-4/18.38m) and third-place Nikolas Iwankiw (58-10.75/17.95m) of South Pasadena for the state championship.

Moran won all but two high school meets in the shot put this season, and those were runner-up finishes.

In Clovis, he also rallied in the discus, placing second in 199-6 (60.80m).

In reality, the two events offered him a comfort of sorts throughout the season. If his shot put mark was slightly off, he relied on the discus for good vibes, and vice versa.

“It was good for my mentality,” he said. “I was always happy with one or the other.”

His success continued past Buchanan.

At the USATF U20 Championships, he threw 62-10 (19.15m) on his final of six throws June 24 to clinch second place behind Ole Miss commit and Rhode Island native Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan.

Like Moran, Robinson-O’Hagan also threw his best mark on his final throw, winning in 64-4.50 (19.62m). That capped a sweep for Robinson-O’Hagan in the shot put and hammer throw, becoming the first athlete in meet history to achieve the feat.

“It means a lot for Cade and I to make this team and to be representing Team USA together, especially before we head off to college,” Robinson-O’Hagan said. “It’s because of guys like him, and Collin Burkhart and Jeremiah Nubbe (in the hammer throw) that I was able to compete at this level. I know how good they are and they really motivated me to perform at my best.” 

Qualifying for the World U20 Championships extended Moran’s season considerably, but it is also a source of great pride. The younger American competitors, in fact, will don the exact same gear their counterparts did earlier in July at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene.

There will also be a renewed vigor for the U20 throwers, especially after watching the first American sweep at the World Championships in the shot put July 18 at Hayward Field, led by two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Ryan Crouser.

“Especially after the World Championships, and the U.S. swept the throws,” Moran said. “It’s not really more pressure, but I feel like there’s big expectations for the throws.”

This will mark his first trip ever to South America, as Moran said previously the farthest he traveled that direction is Mexico. The training, as one might expect this late in the season, has tapered.

The week before he left, Moran said he threw three times and lifted twice.

This long season, he said, has prepared him.

“It’s turning into more of a job now,” Moran said. “And I know if I want to turn pro, this is what life is going to be like.”

So excuse Moran for taking the week to go to Big Fork, Mont. – near Flathead Lake – and going to the rodeo, hanging out by the river, and getting a “much needed break.”

Even his future coaches at Michigan have told him to take a break.

What they haven’t talked about as much is how the Big Ten landscape will change – which Moran will experience first-hand in two years – when UCLA and USC join, as well as any other schools from the West yet to be named.

“Southern California is following me to the Big Ten,” Moran said with a laugh, but also noting it could mean he spends some time with good friend Jack Pederson, a tight end from Murrieta, who went to crosstown high school Vista Murrieta and is attending UCLA.

“The biggest thing is that it brings more competition to the Big Ten, and the Big Ten Championships,” Moran added. “And I feel like the more competition there is, the better you throw.”

It’s all part of the next chapter of his life, which begins right after a storybook final prep season ends this week competing for the first time at a global championship.

“It’s pretty sweet,” he said.