Maurice Gleaton
Langston HS, Fairburn, GA, c/o 2025
AthleticNET Bio
Maurice Gleaton liked to run when he was little. As a six year old, he played football and ran track for the local YMCA, but never took it that seriously. He just did it for fun.
By middle school he stopped competing in both.
“In middle school, I actually stopped running and doing sports,“ he says. “ I lost the love for sports during that age range. I wasn’t winning so I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
He continues: “ When I got to high school I kind of got back into it.”
That first year of high school, only two years ago, was a good one. He lowered his personal best to 11.14 and 23.13, but then injury struck. He wasn’t able to finish the season.
His tenth grade year “ was when everything turned around,” he says.
He played wide receiver and defensive back, but a broken collarbone kept him sidelined for the season. His team went on to win the 6A state title going undefeated. [The starting quarterback was and still is Air Noland, a 5 star QB prospect who has committed to Ohio State University. This year they are 2-0 as of August 30, ranked #15 in the nation by MaxPreps and have scored 79 points]. After healing over the football season, Gleaton returned to the track, but this time, everything was different.
“After football season last year, we went into track season and we started practicing and stuff and after the first week I just kept improving.”
He went 22.06 in the 200m at the Galleria Games on December 17 and then outdoor season he opened with a 10.93 on Feb 18 and 21.73 for 200m on Feb 25.
He continued lopping off time as during the season before he realized he was doing something special.
“After my third or fourth meet, my time would drop every week. Every time I would get faster and faster and faster. So that’s when I started thinking something is going right.”
One of his early meets was the Gail Devers Invitational on March 18 in Buford, GA. He sped to wins in the 100m(10.71) and the 200m(21.58) and was on the winning 4 x 100m(41.59) and 4 x 200m(1:27.63) winning relay teams. There to greet him each time for the medal ceremony was none other than Gail Devers herself.
“She was excited to see me because that day I had won four events,” he recalls. “She just kept seeing me at the podium. Every time she saw me, she would be like, ‘Wow, you won again?’”
He didn’t know her at first until his coach introduced the two.
“It was so cool to…
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