It’s an Olympic-sized sendoff for Mansfield’s Jasmine Moore

Cars decked out in red, white and blue wrapped around the Vernon Newsom Stadium parking lot in Mansfield. Red white and blue balloons floated out of windows as American flags were flown on a hot Thursday night. Car doors and windows read “Congrats Jasmine,” “Team USA,” and “Go 4 Gold.”

People gathered to send-off local Olympian Jasmine Moore, who leaves for Tokyo on Saturday.

Mansfield ISD hosted the send-off as the Mansfield and Grand Prairie communities came out to support the town’s track star.

“Do you see my goosebumps and the hair on my arm standing up?,” said Traci Browder, a Mansfield ISD teacher and a parent who attended the send-off. “This is significant for our community. Jasmine is a hard working student and she’s passionate about athletics and the message in all that it’s so powerful for our students to chase your dreams. Dreams are not unrealistic, but more importantly the coaches and the teachers and the parents in the community that have rallied around her. This is what community is about.”

Inside a car covered in paint, reading, “Go Jas” and “Texas to Tokyo” sat three of Moore’s best friends. They go to all of the meets they can and watch the rest online.

“Put our little small town on the map,” said Cammy Herrera who attended the send-off.

“It’s so nice that they think that of me to even do that [the send-off],” said Moore who grew up in Grand Prairie and attended Mansfield ISD schools. “It’s just amazing, especially because I’ve grown up here.”

On July 30, Moore will make her Olympic debut in the Tokyo Games. She will take part in qualifying round of the women’s triple jump. She knows her pre-jump routine — say a prayer, tap her toes four times and then blast down the runway, all while reminding herself, “I can do it!”

“I will probably try not to cry,” Moore said. “Just because it’s the biggest moment of my life and obviously it’s something that I’ve wanted so bad for such a long time that, for it to be real, I just think I’m going to be overwhelmed with joy, so happy to be there and to compete.”

At 20 years old, she is the youngest of the three women who will compete in the event for Team USA.

Other community members who gathered for the send-off wished her all the best, rooting for her to bring home the gold.

“It’s exciting to have someone in the community in the Olympics. It’s something we will remember forever,” said Renee Simpkins.

Moore started doing the long jump and triple to help her middle school team get more points at track meets. Her middle school coach, Laquisha Ross, said she hasn’t lost a meet since.

The procession of over 100 cars followed Mansfield fire and police department vehicles for the mile drive from the stadium to Danny Jones Middle School where Moore waited to greet her supporters. Cars honked as they drove past her and people cheered, wishing her good luck.

At the school, cheerleaders chanted “Hey go Jasmine” and a crowd cheered as cars honked as they went by. Band music rang from a speaker and Moore waved to the crowd who held posters saying “Go Team USA.”

Mansfield ISD superintendent Kimberley Cantu told Moore that the district has been watching her excel over the years. “When you got to Lake Ridge High School, you soared like no other,” Cantu said. “As impressed as we have been by your talent, we are equally or more impressed by your work ethic and by your heart.”

Cantu said she will be screaming at her TV in support of Moore along with the rest of Mansfield.

Mayor of Mansfield, Michael Evans called the day historic, saying “you don’t see this all the time.”

Moore spoke to the crowd, and, through tears, expressed her gratitude for the support she has had from her friends, family and community throughout her career.

“It’s something that I’ve worked so hard for, for such a long time, so to finally be here with everyone it means so much,” Moore said. She said she is looking forward to competing on the world stage and that all of her hard work has finally paid off.

Moore will make the 13-hour flight to Tokyo on Saturday, the day after the games officially begin. Due to COVID-19 restrictions not all athletes were permitted to participate in the Opening Ceremonies — which are scheduled to take place at 6 a..m. Friday — because athletes are only allowed to arrive in Tokyo five days before they compete. In traditional Olympiads, not every athlete is present at the Opening Ceremonies, but this year far fewer will have that chance.

Beyond that athletes will undergo daily COVID-19 testing, wear face masks at all times and observe social distance rules. They are also only permitted to travel between the Olympic Village and their competition venue.

“It’s been kind of stressful because there’s a lot of protocols that Tokyo has, so I just want to make sure that I do everything correctly so I don’t have any problems and just stay as safe as possible,” Moore said.

Moore said she would have tried out for the Olympics last year if the trials hadn’t been canceled due to COVID-19, but she said she was grateful for another year to prepare, get stronger and faster.

Long-range support

The Moore family will cheer Jasmine on when she graces the world stage, but they won’t be in the stands.

“There are no spectators allowed, so we will not be able to make the trip,” said Trinette Moore, Jasmine’s mom, who religiously attends her daughter’s meets. “We will watch on TV. It’s a little frustrating and a little nerve wracking.” Adding, “It’s a little disappointing, but it’s something we don’t have control over, and so we’re just going to make the most of it.”

Foreign and domestic spectators are not allowed to attend the games. Only a few dignitaries, Olympic sponsors and officials from the International Olympic committee will spectate, according to WUSA.

Jayla Moore, Jasmine’s older sister, said she will be pacing back and forth in front of the TV when she watches her sister compete for Team USA. “I get really nervous,” she said. “I do enjoy watching her, but I just want her to do so good that my stomach hurts.”

Texas to Tokyo

For Moore, becoming a part of Team USA has been a long-time goal. Moore started running track in 5th grade and began practicing long jumping in 7th grade.

“Everyone’s goal whenever they start track, or really any sport, is to compete at the highest level,” Moore said. “So for me to make the Olympic team at 20, while I’m still in college, is such a great honor.”

Both of her parents ran track in college and her mom long jumped.

“Following in her footsteps is why I went to try long jump,” Moore said. “I knew that she was good at it, and so I wanted to try it for myself.”

A year after trying the long jump, Moore discovered the triple jump. “Everything has been clicking since I’ve started, and I’ve just been thankful to have had such a great career so far,” Moore said.

Kenith Roseman, club coach of the North Texas Cheetahs said making it to the Olympics is a goal for some people, but it was an expectation for Moore. He coached her from 8th grade through high school. By her junior year of high school, Roseman said he knew Moore had what it takes to make it to the Olympics because her jumps were of “Olympic standard.”

Once Moore knew she had a shot at becoming an Olympian, that became her ultimate goal.

“Jasmine is the type of person when she sets her mind on something, nothing is going to stop her,” Trinette said. Adding, “She wanted to be the best at what she did and she liked breaking records.”

She went to the UIL track and field state meet all four years during her Mansfield Lake Ridge career, and won nine state championships in the process.

In 2019, she set the UIL state record and broke the national high school record in the triple jump. She won the 6A title with a mark of 44-feet 10-inches, breaking Luling’s Ychlindria Spears’ 2001 by nearly eight inches. It was her fourth straight gold in the triple jump.

Moore was named Gatorade Texas Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight season in June of 2019, and she won the Gatorade National Award that year as well. She committed to the University of Georgia track and field team in 2019 before transferring to the University of Florida.

“Jasmine works so hard,” Roseman said. “She would do three practices a day. From lifting, to going to physical therapy, going to her school practice and then coming to do a jump practice with me, she really personified the hard work aspect of what it took to be an Olympian.”

Moore qualified for the Olympic trials after breaking a personal record and winning the triple jump at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She earned her spot on Team USA at the Olympic trial in Eugene, Oregon on June 20 where she jumped 46 feet, and 5 and a quarter inches.

Moore is the first athlete Roseman has coached who is going to the Olympics. “I’m very proud of her, of course it was a very long goal,” he said. “She would write these goals on her mirror since she was a kid. It was an obsessive goal that became a reality.”