Mo: The Falcon From Morocco

by Marc Bloom

At the apartment he shares with his sister and niece in Paterson, New Jersey, Mohamed Khadraoui's living room closet is a shrine to the great runners of his home country--and the runner he hopes to become some day. Khadraoui, a senior at John F. Kennedy High, displays photos and news clippings of Hicham el Guerrouj, the Olympic 1500-meter champion and world mile recordholder from Morocco, and world marathon recordholder Khalid Khannouchi, who is also from Morocco and recently became an American citizen.

Khadraoui, who came to the U.S. from Morocco in 2000 to get a better education, also shows his own clips from the Newark Star-Ledger and various winning trophies. He hopes the aura of his idols will rub off on him. Khadraoui (pronounced KA-droo-ey) has big goals.

"I have a dream to make the 2008 Olympics in the 5,000 meters," says Khadraoui. "I think about being a champion. Maybe I could succeed El Guerrouj. He could be retired by then."

Khadraoui is off to an excellent start. So far, he's the best distance runner in New Jersey, and one of the best young prospects in the U.S., where he hopes to attain future citizenship. Last fall, Khadraoui was undefeated in cross-country during the regular-season, setting a number of course records and winning the New Jersey State Meet of Champions title for the second straight year. His time on the hilly 5,000-meter course, Holmdel Park, was 15:22, a meet record and the second-fastest ever at the site. He triumphed by 17 seconds against an outstanding field.

Khadraoui is a junior, but because he's already turned 19, this spring will mark his last track season in high school meets. When Khadraoui arrived in New Jersey, he did not speak English and was put in a lower grade, resulting in the age disparity. Now his English is excellent and he's popular in school, for his success on and off the track.

"He's a wonderful boy. Very respectful. Beautiful manners," says his English teacher, Mary DeMoor, one afternoon at school as Khadraoui gathers his belongings for practice. "He's only in this country three years and look how beautifully he speaks."

Khadraoui is so upbeat and helpful, everyone wants to hang with him. Friends and teammates call him, "Mo." Teachers have dubbed him "The Falcon" for his speed. Even the school principal, Richard Roberto, asks Mo for running advice. "When he started running," says Mo, "he asked me what to do. I told him to take it easy. He's not that young. His knees hurt at first."

Even opposing coaches rave at how Khadraoui's example has raised the level of competition. "He's the best thing to happen to cross-country in 20 years," says Clifton High coach John Pontes. "He's made the rest of the boys work harder. They have Mo to chase."

Khadraoui's fluid stride, which eases him around the trails at Garret Mountain, his primary training ground, suggests abundant natural ability. But he did not run until high school. And, more than anything, it's hard work that has elevated Khadraoui. When he started indoor track two years ago, he could barely run a 5-minute mile. "I was scared. I didn't know what I was doing," he says.

Khadraoui learned fast, and now the Kennedy coach, Ken Samra, who's been coaching 32 years, lets Mo develop partly on his own. "I offer guidance," says Samra, "but I don't always give him the workouts. I make him read about the sport. He wants to learn and is dedicated to a fault."

Last summer, with knowledge acquired from a pile of running books, Khadraoui logged 75 to 80 miles of week to build a base for cross-country. He trained daily: distance, speed, hills. He ran the cross-country course, committing it to memory. While training, Mo saw deer in the brush and hawks zooming in the sky. In the fall, he broke the record at Garret Mountain that had stood for 10 years.

Khadraoui has been as dominant in New Jersey as El Guerrouj around the world. Mo's next goal on the path toward future Olympic glory is breaking 9 minutes for the 2-mile this spring and challenging for top honors at the high school outdoor nationals in Raleigh in June. Last summer, Khadraoui watched the telecast of El Guerrouj's fourth world 1500 victory, and close second in the 5,000, in Paris. Mo'd father, Said, was visiting from Casablanca, and watched the world meet with him. Mo's sister Najat served Moroccan pastry and his father beamed with pride when Mo opened the closet door, revealing El Guerrouj, the master, and his son, the understudy, their victories intertwined on the wall.

"When my son played soccer, I could see he had endurance," said the father, of Mo's youth in Morocco. Then he smiles almost apologetically, "But I am surprised he has become an athletic star."

Since finishing high school, Khadraoui has been running on his own.

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