Eileen Moran is not the quickest sprinter out of the blocks.

“My start is not the very best; I have trouble with reaction,” said Moran, a senior star for the Princeton University women’s track team.

“I am always trying to catch the other runners in the races. I have to clear my mind in the blocks. If I am thinking too much, I don’t react as well.”

But Moran showed that she can finish in style, producing a spectacular performance earlier this month at the Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal championships in her final appearance in a Princeton uniform.

The native of Homer Glen, Ill. placed first in the 100 and 200 dashes, anchored Princeton to the 4×100 title, and helped the Tigers take second in the 4×400.

“I could not have asked for a better way to end my career,” said Moran, reflecting on the Heps meet in which she helped earn 38 of Princeton’s 134 points as the Tigers took second to Cornell.

“I thought after the first day of preliminaries that if I could do exactly what I did that day, things would go well. I was crossing off each event. The 4×100 was a highlight; we had been close indoors and we wanted to defend our title.”

Moran took up sprinting as a freshman at Providence Catholic High School and it didn’t take long for things to go well.

“I was pretty successful; I had to learn technical things,” said Moran, who had played basketball and did Irish dancing before focusing on track.

“I qualified for the states in the 400 as a sophomore and placed fifth. The 400 was my best event in high school.”

That success got Moran thinking about competing at the next level. “Once I qualified for states and placed, I started getting letters from college coaches,” said Moran.

“I got a lot of letters as a junior. My top three were Cornell, Princeton, and Notre Dame. I came on a recruiting trip to Princeton and had a great time with the team. It was the first time I had been around a team that was so close.”

It was the positive feeling around the Tiger team that helped Moran develop a comfort level with college track.

“The time we put into training was the biggest adjustment,” said Moran, who was moved from the quarter mile to the shorter sprinting events during her freshman campaign.

“I was used to training hard with my club team in high school. I was trying to balance training and school. We had a really great group of upperclassmen, they always tried to involve us and spend time with us. They really tried to get to know us; it was a fun group to be around.”

For Moran, the breakthrough in shorter sprints came in Indoor Heps in her sophomore season when she took second in the 200.

“I ran against a girl from Columbia (Sharay Hale); she was one of the best sprinters ever in the Ivy League,” said Moran, who clocked a time of 24.67 with Hale finishing first in 24.20. “It was cool to race her.”

As a junior, Moran displayed her coolness under pressure at the Outdoor Heps, fighting off injury to take first in the 100, second in the 200, and help Princeton to victory in the 4×100 as the team  won the meet to complete a Heps triple crown [cross country, indoor, and outdoor].

“I was really surprised by that meet; I spent a lot of time in the training room that year because my hamstring was acting up,” said Moran.

“I was really nervous going into the meet; we had the triple crown on the line. I didn’t want to hurt the team. Somehow I got through it. The week before I felt out of shape; I was running times that I hadn’t run since high school.”

This year, Moran stepped into a new role with the Princeton team, serving as a captain.

“I was honored; the team votes for it so to be elected was exciting,” said Moran.

“I was happy to have the responsibility. I try to lead by example; I don’t want to be super bossy. These kids are between 19 and 22, I want to let people do their own things.”

Princeton women’s track assistant coach Thomas Harrington, who specializes in the sprints and hurdles, is not surprised that Moran emerged as a team captain.

“Eileen worked hard,” said Harrington. “She could demand that her teammates work hard because they can see the results she got from putting in extra time.”

Harrington was proud of the results Moran achieved in her final Heps this spring.

“She came to compete at that meet,” recalled Harrington. “In the past we have been strong in the distance events but this year we needed the sprinters to step up. I said ‘Eileen you are our leader and you have to lead by what you do.’”

While Moran may not be in the lead out of the blocks, she uses technical acumen to outpace her foes.

“She is really good at the drive phase, the first 30 or 40 meters of the race,” explained Harrington, noting that Moran used that technique to pull way from the competition in the 100 and 200 at the Heps.

“If a runner has a sustained drive phase, it allows you to hit top-end speed later in the race when others are breaking down. Eileen stays down in drive phase for 30-40 meters and then comes up and is hitting max speed at 80 meters and then she chews up the other runners.”

In Harrington’s view, Moran has gotten the most out of her potential as a runner.

“I told her the goal every year was to get higher on the podium; she totally maximized her talent,” added Harrington.

“She learned all the things she needed to know. If I said run into a wall she would say which part. I had to grow as a coach, she made me a better coach. I had to find new ways to push her.”

Moran, for her part, has used that coaching to develop a greater self belief.

“I would say I am more confident; I still get nervous before meets but I am more confident in my abilities,” said Moran.

“I know what I am capable of; a lot of it comes from the coaches, telling you if you follow this training, you will get to this result.”

As a result, Moran leaves Princeton with program records in the indoor 60 (7.57) and 300 (40.36) in addition to being part of record-setting 4×100 (46.03)

4×200 (1:40.15), and 4×400 (3:39.96) relays.

“It is exciting; it is cool because Peter Farrell [Princeton women’s track head coach] keeps track of records and every time someone breaks one, he gives the history of the person who had it and talks about where they are now,” said Moran.

“He usually calls them about the new record. You feel like you have become a piece of history.”

And by finishing her career in style, Moran has established herself as one of the best sprinters in the program’s history.