Family ties: Ponte Vedra’s Moritz commits to Georgia Tech to run for father’s former coach

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Ponte Vedra cross country and track and field star Claire Moritz has officially committed to Georgia Tech to run for the same person who coached her father 25 years ago.

Moritz signed her letter of intent last week and will ultimately run for Alan Drosky, who has served as Georgia Tech’s head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country program for 25 years and women’s track and field program for 21 years. Before ascending to those positions, Drosky coached John Moritz, Claire’s father, as an assistant coach of the Yellow Jackets from 1990-1993.

“It’s one of those nice surprises that happens, and it comes full circle” said John Moritz, who at Georgia Tech was a junior national champion in 1990 and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion in 1992 in the steeplechase.

John was the first conference champion who Drosky ever coached, and now Claire is Drosky’s first second-generation student athlete. If that wasn’t enough, John said Claire will also be running for an assistant distance coach who ran with John’s brother.

“Claire’s going to a school where she will have some connections,” said John, “which is nice to know someone is looking after your kid.” 

Claire will join the Yellow Jackets after an illustrious career at Ponte Vedra. She currently holds school records in track and field for the 3200M and 1600M, and she placed eighth in states for cross country this year, among many other accomplishments. The soon-to-be Yellow Jacket currently serves as a captain of the track and field team for the second straight year, after also serving as captain of the cross country team.

“We recruited Claire because of her athletic abilities and academic accomplishments,” said Drosky. “We knew she would be a good fit for our team. … I was really rooting for her to come to Georgia Tech because it would be cool to coach a former student athlete’s daughter.”

Claire, who is thinking about studying biochemistry to pursue a career in the medical field, said she ultimately chose Georgia Tech after connecting so well with the girls on the team and with Drosky’s staff during a visit. After living in Ponte Vedra her whole life, Claire is also excited to experience a new city like Atlanta. The family ties certainly help too, she said.

“It’s definitely really cool to think about,” said Claire about her family’s history at Georgia Tech. “It increases my faith in the program. They [Georgia Tech] obviously know what they’re doing. They’ve been doing it for a very long time.”