For junior jumper Alonzo Moore, satisfaction never comes easily.

An All-American just a year ago, Moore has opened the 2005 outdoor track and field season in successful fashion. He is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation in the triple jump.

Nevertheless, the Hampton, Va., native remains discontented with his efforts until he has reached the No. 1 spot.

“I always try to improve every year so this year I’m going to try to do better than last year and then better than indoor,” Moore said. “My goal is always to aim for first place and nothing less, so that’s what I’m going to aim for.”

Topping his success from last season and this year’s indoor season will be quite the task. Moore won the 2004 Big Ten Indoor Championship in the triple jump event and took second this indoor season despite recording an indoor personal best mark of 52 feet, 1/2 inch.

He treated his personal best mark at Big Ten indoors with little contentment, as he is hoping to take the Big Ten and nationals by storm in outdoors with a polished jumping approach and improved conditioning.

“Indoor, it was pretty decent,” Moore said. “I wasn’t satisfied with what I did, but I was pleased because I did it off of no training. But I think now for outdoor I’m going to try and stay healthy and get the strength back in my legs. I think I’ve done pretty good because I’ve been jumping from short approach and doing pretty decent, so I think when I back it up and then go for it [I’ll do well].”

Moore has leaped off to a fast start in the outdoor season thus far. At the Gatorade Classic in Knoxville, Tenn., this past weekend he took first and third, respectively, in the triple and long jump events. However, even his latest triumph has not satisfied Moore, who is striving to accomplish much more.

“(This past weekend) was alright,” Moore said. “I mean we’ve been training so I wasn’t expecting much. I had a few good jumps, but I fouled them. But overall I was just trying to work on something new, something different, to try and better my jumps.”

As part of a strong track and field program like Wisconsin’s, Moore realizes that training with his teammates has contributed to his development, as even practice is always competitive with Rick Bellford or Paul Hubbard always looking to surpass him in the jump events.

“(My teammates are) always encouraging and talking about me — especially if I’m not good — although they [are] just joking around,” Moore said. “But watching them is what pushes me because when I see them getting better at something then I know they’re working hard for it and I know if I don’t do things right, then they’re going to be beating me.”

As Moore begins his preparation for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships and NCAAs, he will continue to sharpen up his jumping approach using the new techniques he has been testing out in practice. With a fresh approach, Moore is confident he will be able to accomplish his goals against the top competition in both the conference and nation.

“Competition-wise, it’s the same as indoors, but some people jump better outdoor than they do indoor,” Moore said. “I still got Aarik (Wilson, of Indiana) pushing me to jump with him, and as far as nationals go Allen Sims (of USC) is back and there are a lot of other dudes who have been putting some jumps out there, so that’s pushing me.”

In this season’s Big Ten and national championships, Moore hopes to reach the finals in the triple jump event and challenge Wilson and Sims. He was unable to make it past the preliminaries last season at nationals, and while he has noted some personal goals that he plans to accomplish by the year’s end, his chief objective is simply to stay healthy.

“My main goal is to stay healthy, to stay injury free — that is my main goal,” Moore said. “And if that all goes well, jumping-wise in the triple jump I want to jump at least 54 plus. My goal is 55, so if I get anything close to that I’ll be pretty satisfied. The long jump — try to improve on that; I got a lot of work on that and at least to stay consistent with 24. Just to jump as far as I can when I’m healthy, and if I’m healthy I think everything will go right along with it.”