Whatever it takes

To this day, Morgan Hutchinson’s face lights up when discussing last spring’s outdoor track and field state meet. 

Hutchinson was part of the Briarwood Christian School relay team that managed to win the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter runs at the 2017 state championships in May. 

“We knew we had so much potential to be really good,” Hutchinson said on a sunny March afternoon, just a few days before competing in the first outdoor competition of her senior season. 

That day was the culmination of a year’s worth of pointed work to excel in those relays. In the immediate aftermath, a jubilant embrace among the four runners made it apparent how much it meant. 

Initially competing in just the 4x100, Hutchinson’s relay team fell short at the Class 6A, Section 3 meet in 2016. The team’s finish was not good enough to qualify for state, thanks in large part to a tough section that included Homewood and John Carroll.

So Briarwood coach Glenn McWaters pulled the team aside and made a suggestion: attempt to qualify for state via the 4x400.

Hutchinson said the general reaction was, “We’ll do anything to get to state.”

She added, “So we tried the 4x400 and we were actually pretty good at it.”

The team finished fourth at the section meet in the 4x400 and fifth at the state meet. From that point forward, Hutchinson and the team of Sophie Muir-Taylor, Katie Green and Leigh Ann Mathews made performance in the relay events the top priority.

“We worked really hard and said, ‘Let’s just focus on the relay events,’” said Hutchinson, who decided to forego many individual events last season in order to focus on relays.

The Lions moved back down to Class 5A before last season, opening up the door to make school history as the first relay team to win both events at state. McWaters said the relay team largely used its preparation time ensuring that the baton handoffs between each runner were as seamless as possible.

“We weren’t the fastest team, but we worked on handoffs all year until we nailed those handoffs,” he said. “We had better handoffs than anyone else. Consequently, we were able to win.”

With the graduation of Green and Mathews, the Lions are unsure if they will be able to defend their state titles. But Hutchinson is a standout runner on her own accord. She has signed to run collegiately at Samford University and showed her natural talent by placing fifth in the 400-meter dash at the 2018 indoor state meet despite a limited training regimen while she was playing basketball. 

“She is one of the hardest-working people I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach,” said McWaters. “She has come really from nowhere to become an outstanding 400-meter runner. It’s not an event she wanted to run two or three years ago.”

Hutchinson is spending more time on the individual events this spring and is constantly pushing to be quicker. During the spring, Hutchinson and Muir-Taylor are seemingly joined at the hip both on and off the track. They serve as the other’s chief competition and motivation while remaining great friends. 

Prior to the season, Hutchinson said her chief goal was to lower her personal record in the 400 to less than one minute. She ran a 59.95 at the Vestavia Hills King of the Mountain event on March 10, achieving that objective in her first meet of the season. She added that she’d like to cut that time by another second or two before the season concludes. At Vestavia, she finished seventh, just behind Muir-Taylor’s time of 59.73. 

Hutchinson and Muir-Taylor — along with fellow seniors Lauren Smith and Anna Donohue — have played basketball together since their elementary school days. The Lady Lions had a solid season on the court, finishing with a 14-12 record and winning Class 5A, Area 8. Hutchinson’s ability to score the ball and play tough defense made her a force each game. In her final season on the hardwood, Hutchinson averaged over 14 points per game.

For a group of teammates that have competed together for so long, Hutchinson admitted, “it’s going to be weird going after class and not playing with them.”

She was able to fully rejoin the track and field team for the outdoor season, and made sure to note that the conditioning required for basketball and track is vastly different.

“You run a lot in basketball, but when you come out here, it’s different,” she said. “It’s harder, it really is.”

As for her future at Samford, Hutchinson aims to run the 400 and strives to be on the 4x400 relay team in the future. McWaters believes that she could potentially increase her distance and run the 800. However it shakes out, McWaters knows she will be competitive.

“She’ll do well,” he said. “Outstanding young lady. Not only a great athlete, but her parents have done a great job.”