Ryan Morgan places 28th in National Junior Olympic meet

Ryan Morgan traveled to Greensboro, N.C., for the National Junior Olympic Track Meet. The trip ended up being a bigger story than the meet.

“We took off Thursday for a five-hour flight, which would have given us enough time to have dinner, relax and get a good night’s sleep,” he said from Chicago. “The flight ended up being an 11-hour fiasco of delays and bumped flights. We finally got to Cary, N.C., where we were staying and I got to bed at 3:30 a.m. on Friday.

“My first race was at noon. I got up and we headed for the meet. We stopped at the store and bought a nutritious breakfast of Graham crackers and a Yoo-Hoo. We got to the track and stretched and warmed up in a hurry.”

Ryan ran a 50.5 400 meters (his best time is 48.01). His time was the 28th best in the nation for 17- and 18-year-olds, not what Ryan hoped for but not bad considering the circumstances. Ryan has spent most of the summer working on his football skills along with his track skills.

While in North Carolina Ryan made two unofficial visits to colleges that are interested in his attendance. “I visited Duke University,” he said. “Duke wants me to run track and play football. I met a football player when I was there and he showed me around campus.

“I also took a tour of North Carolina State University. Both are good schools. Duke’s facilities are awesome.”

Ryan’s third trip to the Junior Olympic National Track Meet will be his last. He qualified by taking third in the Western Regionals earlier this summer.