July 19, 2004 – Morehouse high jumper Keith Moffat came within a hair of making to the Olympic Games.

Moffatt’s best ever leap of 7’- 5 ¼” tied for third at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Sunday in Sacrament, CA, but the rising sophomore, from Newport News, VA, finished fourth because of an earlier miss at a lower height. The top three jumpers advanced to the Games, to be held in Athens, Greece, in August.

Two-time U.S. champion Jamie Nieto, jumping for the Nike team, won the high jump event, with a leap of 7’-7 ½.” Matt Hemingway, jumping for the Adidas team, was second at 7’- 6 ½.”

The battle for the team’s final spot came down to Moffatt and Tora Harris, a former NCAA champion from Princeton who represented the Nike team. Harris passed when the bar was at 7’- 4 ½” and Moffat cleared the height on his second attempt. Both jumpers cleared 7’-5 ¼” on the first attempt, but neither was able to jump higher and the decision came down to the score sheet.

“I felt great; I was jumping the best of my life. I cleared the 7-5 (and a quarter) with plenty of height to spare. I know I'm going to do a lot better down the road,” Moffatt told a reporter from the Daily Press, his hometown newspaper. “I thought I could have had 7-6 (and a half) but my left knee got tired. Maybe I should have come in at a higher height; maybe I'll get it next time.”

The current holder of the SIAC high jump record and the NCAA Division II indoor champion, Moffatt would have been the first Morehouse student-athlete to participate in the Olympic Games since Edwin Moses represented the College in 1976 in Seoul, Korea.

"Nobody knew me, I'm like the outsider in the whole field, but that's OK with me," Moffatt said. "I set a (personal record) and came pretty close to making the team. (It was the) first time I've ever been to the trials, so I guess that's an achievement.”