In March of 2007, Hank Moore was helping the Conant boys basketball team to the second of its five straight Class M championships.

It was the end of his high school playing days, but it turned out not to be the end of his athletic career.

The following fall, Moore walked on as a member of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute crew team, and he is now making a name for himself in the sport.

In just over a week, Moore will be chasing another championship when he travels to Brest, Belarus, as part of the United States squad to compete at the Under-23 World Championships beginning on July 22.

“This is definitely a dream opportunity,” said Moore.

Now 6 feet, 5 inches tall, Moore has always looked like he belonged on a basketball court. But while he was a good forward on that undefeated Orioles team, he knew high school was probably it for his basketball career.

What Moore didn’t know growing up in Jaffrey was that his body type was almost perfect for crew, a sport not offered at Conant or many other high schools.

“It’s certainly an advantage if you’re taller,” said Moore.

During the summer before his senior year at Conant, Moore spent some time at the St. Paul’s School in Concord, where he was introduced to crew.

“I just decided to try crew there,” he explained. “And I liked it.”

So much so that as he was going through the process of deciding at which college to pursue a civil engineering degree, Moore also began talking to a handful of crew coaches.

It wasn’t going to be a big factor in his decision, but he had enough interest that when he got early acceptance to WPI, one of only two schools he applied to, Moore didn’t hesitate.

WPI offered the best of both — great academics and a chance to walk on as a member of the crew team.

“It’s a sport that’s pretty open to walk-ons,” said Moore.

Moore was the only freshman to make the varsity-eight boat and has been a consistency on WPI’s top men’s racing squad.

“That was a pretty big confidence boost,” he said of making it as a freshman.

When Moore arrived at WPI, the crew program was decent, but over the last few years the team has reached new heights.

For the first time in school history, WPI medalled at the New England Collegiate Championships and the Engineers earned a spot in the finals of the ECAC National Invitational. The team also did quite well at the Head of the Charles Regatta last fall, taking fourth in the Collegiate Eight Division, the second toughest race outside of the championship grouping.

“Our program is certainly a lot better than it was my freshman year,” he said.

But while Moore has put in a ton of time to help the Engineers program grow, his top accomplishments have come with just one of his teammates from WPI, Ben Johnson.

After the Head of the Charles, and right before both embarked on trips abroad, the two decided to team up as a pair and test their abilities.

Moore had spent a couple weeks working on a single boat at the Craftsbury Small Boats Training Center in Vermont toward the end of last summer and his coach there mentioned he should give the pair concept a try with a teammate from WPI.

Johnson was on board and outside of their normal three-hour practices for the Engineers in the spring, they worked on becoming a strong pair.

And since school got out and the WPI season ended, Moore and Johnson have been practicing.

“It was a pretty tough transition,” said Moore of the move to pairs. “It takes a lot more balance, subtlety and rhythm.”

They traveled to Craftsbury, a place to help rowers transition from the college level to the U.S. national team, with an eye on the U.S. trials.

“It’s not quite like being a professional athlete, but it’s as close as you can get,” he said.

But a torn muscle in Moore’s back almost derailed a chance to compete at the trials in New Jersey last month.

Moore rested for two weeks before the trials and despite a lingering pain, he fought through it. He thought about all those days of practice and preparation and just couldn’t let the opportunity slip away.

And it’s a good thing he didn’t.

Moore and Johnson beat out three other pairs at the U23 trials to earn a spot on the national team.

“Winning that really shows we’ve stepped it up,” Moore said. “That was our goal from the beginning of the summer.”

Just this summer at Craftsbury, Moore had a rigorous schedule. It meant waking up at 6 a.m. for a 45-minute row. After breakfast, Moore and the rest of the potential U23 national team athletes would lift weights and do cardio for one hour and 15 minutes. There was another hour on the water before lunch and after coaching — one of the duties for the athletes — there was a two and a half hour practice before the day was over. And this happened anywhere from five to seven days a week.

But that is why Moore went to Craftsbury. He wanted to get better and that was the only way to do it.

“If you’re going to try and row at a top level, you have to put the time in,” he said. “This is not a sport you just want to go out and just have fun in.”

There wasn’t anything else Moore sought for his summer, so after he and Johnson were accepted into the Craftsbury program, the decision was made for them.

“It’s really an awesome opportunity,” said Moore. “They really give us a chance to see what we’re made of.”

Of course Moore never expected it to get to this point.

“It’s come as a little bit of a surprise that I can compete at this level,” Moore admitted.

But now that he has, he is ready to see what else lies ahead.

Like any athlete competing at a high level, the desire for more is there.

“You just need to know that any work you put in is going to make you better,” he said. “All those early morning rows and late nights lifting weights have really paid off.”

First Moore wants to do well at the U23 World Championships and then it is back to WPI for his senior year.

After that he would like to earn a spot on the U.S. senior national team, which would put him one step closer to the Olympics.

It’s just a far off dream for now, but that’s probably what he would have said about the U23 World Championships.