TAMPA -- Recovery time? Cool down time? Aw, heck naw … if you could teleport Jonathan Moore to Eugene, Oregon, he'd run the 800 again tonight.

That's how hyped the Bethune-Cookman senior was after winning his heat Friday at the NCAA East Preliminary at the University of South Florida.

Moore punched his ticket to the NCAA Outdoor National Championship along with Jordan Williams in the 400 meters. Both will now compete at "Track Town"  June 6-9 in Eugene.

Officially, Moore finished fourth with his personal best time of 1:47.89. -- Marco Arop of Mississippi State (1:46.78) and Isiah Harris (1:46.80) finished 1-2 in the fastest heat of the day, while Robert  Heppenstall of Wake Forest, who finished ahead of Moore in Thursday's opening round, had the third fastest time with his heat-winning 1:47.74.

Officially..., we don't care.

Especially after Moore retook the lead from Clemson's John Lewis and held off Lewis, LaSalle's Anthony Hawthorne and Florida's Kyren Hollis for the victory. Moore's previous best time was a 1:48.25 in the 2016 East Preliminary.

 "Once you actually do it [qualify], it's crazy," Moore admitted as he was accepting congratulations from Lewis afterwards. " The adrenalin is still flowing. Let's go do this [compete in Oregon]."

Heck, even Head Coach Donald Cooper was dropping "unbelievable" afterwards.

"You have to be willing to be at your best," Cooper said.  "[Moore was] put in a position to be his best by our coaching staff."

Moore has been the program's unsung hero, often overlooked due to the success of the jumps program and sprinters. All he's done is won four Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships in the 800 and has been a key participant in the relays, especially a 4X400 team that enters Saturday's qualifying ranked 11th in the east.

"Jonathan's had an incredible run since the MEAC Indoor Championships," Cooper said. "He went out and executed the race strategy."

The only downer for Moore on Friday was that fellow senior Christopher Jackson, also running the event, didn't advance. Jackson was in that fast opening heat, finishing outside the three automatic berths and 17th overall despite a personal best of 1:49.07.

"That's my training partner for four years and I've trained with the best," Moore said of Jackson. "Gotta get him in on the relays."

Earlier, Williams got the day off to a strong start for the Wildcats.
 
The sophomore from nearby St. Petersburg was denied an automatic berth after he finished behind Kentucky's Dwight St. Hillaire (44.55), Tennessee's  Nathan Strother (45.19) and Duke's Steven Solomon (45.41.) This despite turning in a 45.75 that shed two-tenths off the previous PR of 45.95 he had at the MEAC championships last month.

After a speedy second heat that produced five of the 12 national qualifiers, Williams could relax when the USF scoreboard showed his time was better than one of the top three finishers had a slower time.

 "I stayed comfortable," Williams said.

Another reason for that? His mom, a B-CU alum, was in the stands, and this was practically a home meet.

" To be running here [at USF], it felt like home and when you're at home, you have to show out," Williams said.

He also ran the 200, posting a 20.92 and finishing 37th.

The meet concludes Saturday, with three Wildcat relay teams, Joel Sampson (triple jump) and Jeremiah Peters (shot put) scheduled to compete.