Athlete Name: Morgan O'Neal
School: Sylacauga High School
What was your most memorable meet and why? It was my freshman year at our sectional track meet. I was still getting used to running the 300mh. So that afternnon, I beat the returning 4A 300h state champion (Alexxis Milner) . They got moved to 5A my freshman year and everyone was like "Morgan do you know what you just did?" I was like "No what did I do?" I didn't know who she was until after the race and that's when I realized I was kind of good at hurdling. AT that point it dawned on me that I was going to be pretty good at hurdles.
Where did you face your biggest competition? The Mountain Brook Invitational in 2017.
Out of all of your high school accomplishments, which stands out the most and why? The state track meet in 2015 when I broke the state record.I had only ran maybe six races that entire season. It stands out because I never saw myself doing hurdles and becoming a state champion in that race. At that time the 400m was my race and I had no clue at hurdling until my freshman year.
If you could do it all over again, what would you change about your running career in high school? I would've started hurdling when I was in middle school when I started running track. I also would have trained a lot harder and would have been more confident in myself.
What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome during your HS Track career? I had to learn to trust my training and try my best to be confident about my races. I would always freak myself out when I was running against really fast girls. So I would say that I was my biggest obstacle throughout my whole HS track career.
What will you miss the most? I am going to miss Monday conditioning with my coaches, and them taking pictures of me laid out on the track. All the people I met and talk to before races, and the bus rides with my teammates.
Do you have any advice for younger athletes? Running track and being good at it is all up to you and you only. Your coaches can give you all of the workouts you need, but it is up to you to apply all of that to the track. But most importantly love what you do and do what you love.
What are your post-highschool or college plans? I plan to continue my track career at the University of Missouri and major in Journalism/
Who would you like to say thank you to? I would like to thank God for blessing me with the ability to be an athlete, my parents, and all of my coaches and trainers.
