YODER – Southeast High School senior Morgan Ekwall decided to give track and field a try one day.
“It just kind of stuck,” she said.
It proved to be a wise decision because Ekwall recently signed to continue her track and field career for the Chadron State College Eagles.
After both an unofficial and official visit to the Nebraska campus, she knew it was the right decision to make.
“I like it just as much both times. They offered me a scholarship, and I wanted to improve my throwing,” Ekwall said. “I felt more comfortable there with the team and stuff.”
She credits two people for helping her make the connection with the CSC coaching staff – coach Jeff Fullmer and the Logsdon family.
“Greg (Logsdon) and his family is part of how I looked at Chadron,” Ekwall said. “When Greg went on his visit, he said they got a new throwing coach.”
That’s when Ekwall decided to look into the Eagle program, and with the help from Fullmer, everything fell into place after that.
Ekwall will join Logsdon at Chadron State, who also recently committed to compete for the school.
“It is kind of cool to have I’ll know,” Ekwall said. “Since our school is smaller and you know everybody anyways. It will be cool to have somebody that I know so I won’t be alone.”
As is the case with all her senior teammates, she won’t have a chance to compete this spring which was a disappointment to her.
Ekwall came within an inch of tying the Class 2A girls’ shot-put record, which stands at 41 feet, 1 inch and had seen improvement in the discus event.
At the 2019 Wyoming State Track and Field Championships, Ekwall won an individual state title in shot put by nearly two feet and just missed the medal stand in discus with a ninth-place finish.
“This year, I was going to go for the 2A state record. I threw 41 last year and was just an inch away. It is disappointing I won’t get to go for the record because I’ve been working for that,” Ekwall said. “I was improving in the discus. That was exciting, but I won’t know how much I improved.”
Ekwall has a unique passion for sports, having grown up playing sports all her life, starting with soccer at the age of three, and she wants to turn it into her career following college.
“I’ve been doing sports since I was little. Sports has always been a big part of my life because I love them,” Ekwall said. “I’ve played many different sports.”
She not completely sure what she will study yet, mentioning leaning towards sports recreation and management, athletic training or physical therapy.
One thing is for sure though. She wants to coach in the future.
“I want to coach,” Ekwall said. “I’m not sure what sport I want to coach, but I want to coach because all my coaches have made a difference in my life.”
