Go, Hurricane Abby!
Abby Morris graduated in June from Ocracoke School, and is now attending Louisburg College on a partial athletic scholarship.
Last month, the Louisburg Hurricanes took 1st place (both the men and women’s teams) at the regional cross country races. Abby placed 2nd overall in the women’s race, and even better, ran the 5K in 18:52, a new personal record!
“I would never have thought I would ever be this fast,” she said.
She’s on her way to Iowa, where she will compete with her team on Saturday, November 14th for the national title in Division 1. On the way to nationals, the Hurricanes stopped to run in Hazard, Kentucky and along the Mississippi River in Illinois. Abby is excited to see so much of the U.S. during the trip. “I’ve never been this far into the states!” she said.
The Louisburg Hurricanes are ranked 1st (men) and 11th (women) in the country for Division 1 schools. Abby is the second fastest female runner, and way outpaces the team average time of 19:20.
“I love running,” she said. “It’s fun. It gives me my little moment to think.”
Abby started running with Ocracoke School’s running club in 8th grade and joined the cross country team for three out of her four years of high school. (“The first year we had volleyball when I was a sophomore, I did that just to try it, but then I went back to running.”) Her coaches were Charles Temple, Adam Burleson, and Kitty Mitchell. The Dolphins went to the state championships during Abby’s junior and senior years.
Abby has only good things to say about Louisburg, and especially her teammates, both the girls and boys.
“We’re really close,” she said. “It’s kinda like Ocracoke – everyone’s friendly and we all get along.”
Her coach, Dave Koloseus, is “awesome.”
“He’s really young and a really good coach. He was a runner until he got injured,” she said, crediting her coach with inspiring her to run even faster than before.
“I like the feeling you get – the adrenaline – when you race.”
She admits she was surprised at how fast she ran at the state championships. Her time in the race before that one was 19:57. “I cut a whole minute off my time – that was really exciting!” she said. Also exciting was beating Coach Kitty’s own personal record from her college years.
“I’m proud of her!” Kitty said. “I always knew Abby had more in the tank. I’m so excited that she found a college and a team that is such a good fit. Their workouts are really hard and they push their runners to the max.”
Abby concurs with that. “We run a lot,” she said. “Usually 45-90 minutes every day, over six miles at an easy pace.”
They also train with workouts where they run their “race pace” (fast) for 5 minutes, then jog for four, then run really hard again, then jog, and then do it again and it’s wearing me out even to type all that.
“She seems to be just eating it up,” said Kitty about the Louisburg workout.
Abby is also enjoying academic life at Louisburg, where she is studying dental hygiene and taking basic classes. Louisburg is a 2-year college with an enrollment of about 800 students; Abby plans to transfer to a four-year college and complete a bachelor’s degree. She hopes to keep improving her race time so she can apply for athletic scholarships when she continues her education.
“I’m the first person on my mom or dad’s side of the family to go to college,” she said. She mentioned her cousin, Brittany Boos, who also graduated in 2015. Brittany recently joined the Navy and has already been sworn in. “She’ll go to college after the Navy,” Abby said. “But I’m the first."
“My teachers are really nice,” she said. “It’s small here and they know me by name – my biggest class is fifteen people. They’re so helpful, it’s impossible to fail here if you put effort into it. I’m getting good grades, but I’m taking easy classes now during cross country season.”
Abby enjoys the friendships she’s made with the other girls on her team, and she reports that the Louisburg campus (about 40 minutes from Raleigh) is beautiful.
“I settled into college life a lot better than I thought I would,” she said.
Expect to see Abby fly by you in Ocracoke’s 5K on April 23, 2016.
“It was the day after prom last year,” she said. “I did absolutely terrible and was so embarrassed. I want to go back and redeem myself. It was off-season last year, too, but I’m running track in the spring [at Louisburg], so I’ll be in shape this time!” Watch out, Perez ladies!
As happy as Abby is, she does admit one drawback to being a Louisburg Hurricane: Hurricanes! After all the years of rivalry between the Ocracoke Dolphins and Hatteras Hurricanes, it’s hard to get used to the new moniker.
“We do the ‘One-two-three-Hurricanes!’ cheer before we run and I don’t like saying it!” she said. “But when I cheer, I say ‘Go, Louisburg!’ instead of ‘Go, Hurricanes!’”
Go, Abby!
