The Pilot News - Uceny off and running toward Olympic goals

“It’s pretty nerve-wracking, actually,” said Brenda. “We were just talking about that tonight, because we were watching the trials for gymnastics. We were looking at each other like ‘this is what it’s all about.’ I kind of turned to my husband and said ‘That’s where Morgan’s at.’ She’s one of the elite athletes in the States, and we’re dumb-founded.
“It’s something she always talked about, going to the Olympics, and we always made fun of her. But it’s just cool because she’s gone this far.”
Uceny will compete in the prelims Friday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. in the hope of making the cut to the semifinal trials Saturday. Seeded eighth overall at the trials, the Reebok runner stands a decent chance of not only making that cut, but proceeding to the finals on Monday. If she makes it to Monday’s race, Uceny may pull off an upset for an Olympic berth. She has a history of rising to a challenge. At her Olympic trial-qualifying USATF last summer, Uceny raced top-seeded Olympic 800-meter candidate Alice Schmidt, and finished just behind her in their heat. Incidentally, Uceny’s personal-best time would put her in fourth place versus her fellow U.S. Olympic hopefuls, assuming they all matched their previous personal records at the trials.
Depending on how Uceny fares in the 800, she may also compete in the 1,500-meter run trials beginning July 3, although she won’t decide whether or not she’ll try out in that event until after the 800 cuts are determined.
“She’s kind of said she has that option,” said Brenda. “Whether or not she’ll want to do it, she’s said if she does well in the 800, she may not want to do the 1,500 just because it’s a lot of running.”
According to her mother, Uceny was always a runner.
During recess periods at Webster Elementary, she would challenge the boys in her class to race her. After she’d beaten them, she’d come home and regale her family with accounts of her playground glory.
“I can remember her coming home from school just on Cloud 9 because she’d beaten the boys in a foot race, saying ‘I beat so-and-so or this person,’” Brenda said, chuckling.
In high school, Uceny had a successful career with the Lady Pilgrims, winning a state title in the 800 during her junior year in 2002. But as with so many athletes, Uceny had a tough transition competing in her sport at the collegiate level, and she even considered whether or not to return to her track team at Cornell in the summer of 2004, after her first year with the Big Red.
“She was very down that year,” said Brenda. “She gained 5 pounds. It was her first year of college. Everyone jokes about the freshman 15. Well, she didn’t gain 15 pounds, but she put on some weight. She’d say, ‘Mom, I don’t know what’s wrong; this isn’t me.’
“That summer we went to a family reunion in Illinois, and I said ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ and she just said she was going to run. I thought, well, where’s this coming from?... I think that was a turning point. Her coach even said when she started practice he could tell something was different.”
Determined to succeed, Uceny began breaking record after record in her events. She holds indoor records at Cornell in the 500, 800 and 1,000 meter runs, as well as outdoor records in the 800 and as a member of the school’s sprint medley relay team. By the time her college career was finished, Uceny boasted six individual Heptagonal Track Champi-onship titles, and four straight All-American nominations.
Last year, she capped off her senior season with a trip to the Pan-American games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Now a professional runner for Reebok, Uceny is off and running toward accomplishing her lifelong Olympic dreams.
“She always kind of thought she could do it,” said Brenda. “It’s always been a dream of hers. She’s never bragged, but it was just kind of like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. She had a good running career all the way through junior high and high school. She ran her freshmen year and had problems, but then she started breaking records her sophomore year, and we started thinking it might happen.”