Morgan calls Cali 'so fun, so rewarding'

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

With one jump left in Cali, Colombia, Tara Davis was in second place and knew she might get stuck there. The junior-to-be from Agoura, Calif. had one attempt left.

She sought out Team USA coach Lisa Morgan before her sixth jump.

“She had these tears in her eyes,” Morgan said. “And I said ‘Baby, you can do this. Just give it everything you have. You’re the best.’”

Davis returned to the runway, started a rhythmic clap that was quickly picked up by her teammates in the stands, and the ripped off a final jump of 21 feet, ½ inch. It was a new personal best and a gold medal.

“When she popped that jump we all went crazy,” Morgan said.

It took a very short amount of time for the athletes on the U.S. team to congeal into a unit and to embrace coach Morgan – the enormously successful coach at Colombia HS (Maplewood, N.J.) who brings the right blend of expertise, motivation and motherly love. Morgan was an assistant coach on previous U.S. Youth teams in Lille, France (2011) and Donetsk, Ukraine (2013) but this year she was head coach.

The U.S. team earned a record 19 medals at the IAAF World Youth Championships earlier this month in Colombia – eight of them gold – and that barely begins to account for the full measure of success.

“My staff and I created an environment for (the athletes) to bond and experience it as a team and take it all in together,” Morgan said. “And we took in everything that was there. The food was great. The city of Cali was awesome. The facilities (were excellent). And running on that stage, seeing them perform at the international level was just great.”

As far back as March, Morgan was busy at work trying to get the word out – through members of the USA Youth team staff – just to make sure that enough of the country’s most talented 17-and-under athletes were planning ahead and intent on showing up at the Youth trials in Lisle, Ill. the first week of July.

Morgan admits that she worried that the talent pool in Lisle might turn out “slim,” but that wasn’t the case.

And as the competition at the trials progressed, Morgan was already dispensing key information, forging bonds with athletes and making key coaching decisions.

When Lynna Irby had a decision to make about competing in the 100 or the 400 meters at World Youth, Morgan counseled her that the 400 was the smart choice. That proved to be the right move. Irby ran 51.79 and earned a silver medal in the 400 meters, plus a gold on th 4x400 relay.

“She went 51,” Morgan said. “How do you drop (time) like that? The only thing that could have put the icing on the cake is if she had won. But she made the race (fast).”

It’s no small task to take 50 of the top young high school athletes in the U.S. – each of them with protective coaches and parents – and get to know them and lead them while knowing when to push, when to weigh in, and when to relax. It takes a deft touch and the radiant positivity of someone like Morgan.

“I want more high school coaches and their athletes to get involved (U.S. national team events),” she said. “It’s a building block. These are our next Olympians. To get this experience at an international level, it’s so rewarding because of the people you meet and the different cultures you are exposed to. And then, as a team, to be part of Team USA, the best of our country coming together and the bonds that the kids make, it’s invaluable.”

And the memories, such as a final session in which the U.S. collected four gold medals from Davis, Candace Hill (200), Sammy Watson (800) and the mixed gender 4x400, are priceless.

“It was absolutely incredible,” Morgan said. “We’re sitting there all together and we’re hearing everything and seeing it – high-fiving and hugging the whole time. It was so fun, so rewarding.”