Interval Session #52 - Stephanie Morgan By Steve Underwood, May 1, 2008 You’re the youngest of four children, the daughter of two outstanding All-American distance runners. All three of your sisters have gone on to be collegiate runners, the last after setting an all-time state 2M record. Your mom and dad are hardly pushy, but you eventually get into the sport, too. But is there a way to truly become your own athlete, establish your own identity? Stephanie Morgan has found a way. Even with rapid growth in middle school that had her the tallest Morgan (besides her dad) by 9th grade, she came into her freshman year for the outstanding Clarkston MI HS program with a 5:00 mile already under her belt. She spent much of the year running just steps behind her outstanding sister, Jenny, even leading the team in some races. She ran 2:09 for 800 in one race and ran a strong 1200 on an All-American 11:41.67 DMR at 2006 NON. Then her family was called to move back to Barnesville OH; with Stephanie having to make the transition from a big-school powerhouse program to a small, rural school where she was far and away the best. Her first XC season had ups and downs, but with maturation and her mom’s coaching guidance, Stephanie powered through a sophomore track campaign that went from a 4:57.18 mile win at Kentucky Indoor, to a 4:46.31 mile triumph at NON. After an improved XC season that included making Foot Locker Finals, Team Morgan cleverly low-keyed it indoors and worked on strength and base-training. She didn’t even race the mile and her PR 10:36.57 for 5th at NIN went largely unnoticed. Stephanie is a true miler, though, so when she stepped on the track at Penn last week, she was truly back in her element. Expectations weren’t high (she’d only been on the track twice), but with her strength, style and smoothness at a new level, she stuck with Chelsey Sveinsson’s fast early pace, then kicked to a US#1 4:41.22, a Penn record, the fastest ever by an Ohio runner, and #11 all-time US.

Winning the Penn Mile last weekend. Photo John Nepolitan 1. Congrats again on your Penn Relays title, Stephanie. Last year, in this race, you made a move early in the last lap to try and take the race, only to get passed late by Samantha McMillan. This time, your move seemed perfectly timed. Please describe how the race unfolded for you and how what happened last year played into your strategy. Looking back at the race, I wanted to sit back and see how it played out. The first three laps, I tried to stay on the leader, and just wait. When the last lap came, I didn't want to go right then, so I waited until Emily Infeld came and then went. Last year’s experience at Penn Relays really taught me to wait for the right time to kick. 2. You didn’t race a lot this winter and didn’t seem to race the mile at all. But in your first big race of the year, you smashed your PR from last spring. What do you think have been the training principles and key factors that have helped you improve so much? This winter, we really just tried to work on a good base. I ran a lot of tempo runs and hills, and some good mileage in order to get some base training. Last year, I raced a lot indoors, so this year I ran a few two-mile races, just so I could extend my outdoor season a little longer this year compared to last year. 3. After your freshman year, things changed pretty dramatically for you with your sister graduating and then your family’s move back to Barnesville. Can you talk about your initial reaction to that change, and how you’ve adapted to it now? Also, how did the coaching situation evolve and how has it been having your mom as your coach? After my freshman year, the move back to Ohio was a little hard for me, just because I now had to train on my own. It took me a little while to get used to the training. In Clarkston, I ran with a great group of hard-working girls, so coming back to Barnesville showed me how fortunate I was to have trained with a great team. Living back in Barnesville is definitely different; I can concentrate a little more on the individual aspect. Having my mom as a coach is great; she knows a lot about the sport from her personal experiences. Before we moved to Michigan, my mom used to coach my sister, so when I moved back to Barnesville my mom started coaching again. 4. You obviously have a very supportive family, but was it a challenge at all when you were coming through middle school with so much running excellence with your parents and your siblings? Were you still able to develop your own natural interest in the sport? At this point, anyway, you really seem to have developed your own unique character as a runner. My family is very supportive, so it was fun to run with my sisters and learn from their experiences. In middle school, I just tried to have fun and put no pressure on myself, and try to enjoy every moment. My parents never pressured me into running, I just decided to try it and since then it’s been getting better and better. 5. It seemed like last year, in the series of races from Kentucky Indoor, to NIN, to Penn, and finally to NON, you really had an education in racing. Can you talk about what you learned last spring and how it shaped you into the runner you are now? Last year was really the first time I ran in individual races at a national level. As a freshman, I ran a lot of relays for Clarkston, so running in those races last year were great experiences that I learned a lot from. Last year’s races really taught me to relax. One of the biggest factors I learned was patience. I think that has really helped me with my races this year. Morgan, 3rd from left, was queen of the girls mile field last spring at NON. Photo Donna Dye 6. Looking back on both races now, which has been the most awesome victory for you – NON or Penn – and why? Well, I would probably have to say Penn because I improved on my time from the NON mile. Last year at NON, I went into the race pretty tired from the long track season I had, so this year at Penn I felt much better and relaxed. 7. After last weekend’s success, have you started thinking more and more about the possibilities of your running future? What are some of your goals and dreams, in terms both of races this year, and also college running and beyond? It definitely has made me think; I always just try to think about improving. I'm really delaying my training a little longer, so I can run a lot faster later. I definitely want to run in college, but I can’t say where I could go from there. All I can think about now is just improvement. 8. How is training in Barnesville? For those of us who have no clue, where in Ohio is it, and what is the community and running environment like? Have you been able to have a sense of “team” there even with a smaller school and lacking others at your ability to train with? Barnesville is in the southeastern part of Ohio and is a small country town. It’s very hilly and has a lot of back roads. Everyone in the community knows each other, and the school is pretty small. The team at Barnesville is definitely smaller, but the track team is very supportive of each other. I run a lot on my own, since the depth on the team isn’t as big as a division one team 9. Finally … what kind of interests have you developed academically and what do you like to do when you aren’t training and studying? Academically I like history a lot, and would maybe like to major in ministries.  When I am not running, I’m either eating or hanging out with friends. I love to travel, shop, listen to music, and hang out with the family.

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