Girls Track: Bentonville's Morton Chosen As Athlete Of The Year

 Staff Photo Spencer Tirey Logan Morton of Bentonville is the All-NWA Media Girls Track Athlete of the Year.
Staff Photo Spencer Tirey Logan Morton of Bentonville is the All-NWA Media Girls Track Athlete of the Year.

BENTONVILLE -- Logan Morton definitely saved some of her better track outings this season for last.

Bentonville's do-it-all senior performer won the 7A-West Conference titles in the long jump and the triple jump, and a sprained ankle couldn't keep her from doing it again in the Class 7A State Meet. While she didn't jump at the Meet of Champs, she made up for it by winning the 300-meter hurdles and finishing second in the 100 hurdles that day in Heber Springs.

Girls Track Athlete Of The Year

Logan Morton

School: Bentonville

Class: Senior

Height: 5-5

Notable: Won the 7A-West Conference and Class 7A state titles in the long jump and the triple jump and also ran a leg in the Lady Tigers’ winning 4x100-meter relay team in both meets. … Won the 300 hurdles and finished second in the 100 hurdles at the Meet of Champs, which she did after attending Bentonville’s graduation service and driving to Heber Springs. … Signed a national letter of intent to run track at Central Arkansas.

When Morton wasn't jumping or hurdling, she continually did her part in running as part of two relay teams -- including one of the fastest 4x100 relay teams in state history. Those performances made Morton the choice for girls track Athlete of the Year by NWA Media.

"It all finally came together," Morton said. "After conference, when I sprained my ankle in the triple jump, I was really surprised that I came back and walked away with both state titles in the jumps, especially with a hurt ankle.

"I didn't get to do jumps at the Meet of Champs because of graduation, so I was glad I was able to save myself for the 300 hurdles because I hadn't had a good time in those all year. I had a lot of energy that I could focus onto that event. I had a PR and our school record, so that was exciting."

Morton, who earlier signed a national letter of intent with Central Arkansas, admitted the jumps hadn't been her strong suit. She compared her performances in early meets to "what I was jumping in the ninth grade," but as the season wore on, she started getting much better at those events.

She sprained the ankle while competing in the triple jump at the 7A-West Conference meet, but still managed to turn her season-best performance of 37 feet, 10 inches as Bentonville took the top four places in that event. Lady Tigers coach Randy Ramaker said Morton sent the week between the conference and state meets rehabbing the ankle and not practicing, but that didn't keep her from breaking out a season-best 18-9 to win the long jump.

"Her improvement in the long jump and the triple jump was pretty phenomenal, especially in the long jump," Ramaker said. "Going into the 18s, to me, was a huge barrier, and she's a competitive kid to begin with. Whenever she's going out there and losing, I don't care what, she's going to take another job if she's got it.

"She did injure herself at conference, hitting a hole in the triple jump, and it caused her to rehab the entire week before state and do nothing at all. She wasn't in that tip-top form going into it, but she was still good enough to win a few things and do well in the 300 hurdles. It hurt her to hurdle, basically."

If she had to do it all over again, Morton said she would have liked to turn more attention to the 100 hurdles, one of the events she expects to run in college. Her best time in that event was 14.69 seconds, which took place in the Class 7A State Meet prelims.

"It didn't go as great as I thought it would be," Morton said. "I wanted to run consistently in the 14s in the 100 hurdles and consistently in the 44s in the 300 hurdles. I would go back and, instead of focusing on handoffs, I would focus on hurdling and my trail leg and my speed in between the hurdles to get my hurdling down.

"I usually finished up second in the 100 and 300 hurdles behind Payton Stumbaugh, but I didn't run as good as I had hoped this year. The last five meets, I was running in the 14s, but I stayed consistently in the 15s and ran in the 14s a couple of times."

Sports on 06/02/2014

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