Moeed Khan doesn't compete in any hurdle events for Stroudsburg's track and field team, but he's cleared plenty.

The COVID-19 pandemic robbed him of his junior track season, but that was just the first obstacle in a series of disruptions over the past year. With each hardship he faced, Khan found a means to overcome.

After his track season in spring 2020 was canceled, Khan turned to work as an outlet. He spent much of his summer working at Doughboy's of the Poconos Pizza, a local pizzeria in Delaware Water Gap that he's worked at since the summer after his freshman year.

Work, Khan said, offered a source of distraction. The Doughboy's family has become his own and filled track's void.

When it came time to return to varsity sports with the start of football in August, Khan again learned he wouldn't be able to participate in a sport he loves. An irregular heartbeat stopped him from passing his physical in time to make the football team.

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So Khan again found a new outlet for his need to grind. Without the sport he started playing in seventh grade, Khan turned to weightlifting once he had the medical clearance.

"I was just like, 'I have to do this, because if I don't then there's going to be other kids who are out-working me,'" Khan said.

From August to March, Khan said he spent four to five hours at the gym daily. During that span he added nearly 40 pounds, all with track in mind.

Khan said leg exercises like squats were a specific focus after he learned from former Stroudsburg assistant football coach Dan Burns that he could improve his long jump performances by working on his squats.

He started it with preparing for track in mind, but weightlifting came to mean so much more to Khan.

It's therapy.

"It clears my mind," Khan said. "I get to focus on what I love doing."

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Early into his senior track season, Khan began suffering from shin splints, which made exercises like squats too painful — forcing him to give up weightlifting.

Khan still had track practices, but the injuries limited him even there. This spring Khan participated in the first half of his track workouts, then would move to an exercise bike to finish conditioning on days he was in pain.

"At some points I can't even walk," Khan said of his shin splints.

Khan said he rarely ever practiced for the long jump, which made it difficult to compete.

When it came time to perform, Khan cleared any thoughts of injury. At the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference track and field championships, Khan earned a silver medal in the long jump and bronze medals in the 100-meter race and 4x100 meter relay.

Pushing him through it all — the pandemic, the loss of football, the injuries — was his fundamental thirst for challenges and the resolve to solve them.  

"Nothing in life is going to be easy, you just got to get back up and keep doing you," Khan said.

Khan will attend Monmouth University in the fall, where he will compete in Division I track and field and pursue a degree in business with a concentration in real estate and finance.