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Williamsport’s Isabelle Morrow having best season of her track career

Isabelle Morrow of Williamsport wins the girls long jump during the District IV track & field championships at Milton High School Saturday afternoon. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

MILTON — Williamsport’s Isabelle Morrow never could have envisioned this season going the way that is has for her. Sure, she knew she was talented in the long, triple and high jumps. And yes, she had the ability to succeed in all three events.

But breaking two school records and going 3 for 3 with gold medals at the District 4 championships?

“I would have been like ‘are you sure?'” Morrow joked when asked if she thought she’d win three gold medals this year.

Morrow doesn’t have to question it anymore. She’s a three-time District 4 champion this year and is state-bound for three events.

“I’m definitely happy. This is my first year winning all three,” Morrow said. “I put so much work in this year and to win all three and perform the way I wanted to. It means a lot.”

JON GERARDI/Sun-Gazette Williamsport’s Isabelle Morrow poses with her three district gold medals she won this year in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. Morrow is heading to states this year in the Class AAA high jump and long jump.

It’s the culmination of an outstanding season that any track athlete would love to be having. It started a few weeks ago when Morrow broke the school record in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 7 inches a week before the Lock Haven High School Classic.

This past Saturday at Milton High School at the district championships, Morrow tied the school record in the long jump with one of her final attempts. She then broke the record by a quarter of an inch with a leap of 17 feet, 10 3/4 inches.

“I definitely was (relieved to get it),” Morrow said. “I was like ‘oh my gosh, I tied another one.’ And then last jump I beat it by quarter of an inch again.”

Another event, another record for Morrow. It’s becoming commonplace.

“(It means) a lot. I think it shows how hard I worked, how much I work and I’m really happy,” Morrow said with a smile about breaking two school records this year.

Morrow won gold in the Class AAA high jump and triple jump on the first day of competition at the District 4 championships. In the high jump, Morrow cleared 5-1 and 5-3 on her first attempts and cleared 5-5 on her second jump. She missed 5-7 on all three attempts, but still walked away with gold as teammate Aletha Fletcher took silver (5-5) and is also heading to states.

In the triple jump, Morrow won district gold with a jump of 35-5, winning by almost a foot over Shikellamy’s Jane Berger (34-5 3/4).

Morrow was consistently around 35 in the triple jump as she hit at least 35-0 on three of her six attempts — one of which was a foul. Her two jumps in the 34-feet range were 34-10 1/2 and 34-6 3/4.

Morrow loves the high jump, it’s become her favorite event she’s done. But she noted she has a soft spot for the long jump

“I love it. Triple jump? Ehh, it’s OK,” Morrow said with a laugh. “I definitely love long jump and high jump. It’s my favorite.”

While Morrow won district gold in three events, she’s only competing in two at states: the high jump and the long jump. She is not listed on the performance sheets for the triple jump.

In the high jump, Morrow is seeded sixth with her district-winning height of 5-5. All of the top eight seeds in the high jump in Class AAA are seeded with a height of 5-5. Morrow has been consistently around 5-5 throughout the season and will have solid competition to push her to match her school-record height of 5-7 or, possibly higher.

Those seeded with her include Avon Grove’s Lexi Boiardi, teammate Fletcher, Upper Dublin’s Charlee Smith, Franklin Regionas Jamie Kociela, Trinity’s Ella Sammel, Cedar Crest’s Eliana Schneider and W.C. Rustin’s Aoife Speer-Gibson.

The Millionaire doesn’t focus too much on her competitors, though. She just thinks about what she needs to do to excel.

“Watching everybody else, you’re like obviously back there, you’re focused on them, but I’m focused more on myself,” Morrow said. “I need to do this this and this, I can’t help what they’re doing. But I want everybody to do well. I just focus on my stuff and what I can do better.”

The high jump is an event Morrow has a good chance to reach the podium on.

The Millionaire is seeded 18th in the long jump in Class AAA with her district winning leap of 17-10 3/4. The top jump belongs to Aydriane Bowden of Kennet, who cleared 20-7 3/4 in the District 1 championships. Four of the top five leaps are from District 1 with Evette Wesseh of Bensalem (19-5, second), Norristown’s Jade Webb (19-1 1/4, fourth) and Conestoga’s Nicol Bovanova (18-8 1/2, fifth) all being in the top five.

All of the top 16 seeds in the long jump reached 18 feet or better.

“Oh my God, a lot, I am so excited to go,” Morrow said about looking forward to the competition at states pushing her. “I just want to PR. The medal would be nice, but it doesn’t necessarily matter. I just want to PR and go out and perform the way that I can and perform well under pressure.”

Morrow’s PR this year is her school-record distance in the long jump of 17-10 3/4 and 5-7 in the high jump. She reached 35-5 in the triple jump this season which is a PR.

Morrow is one of a number of Millionaires headed to Shippensburg in both girls and boys competition, and it’s something the Millionaire jumper is excited to see.

“Our team just works so hard and it’s so nice to see everybody’s hard work pay off. You’re like somebody’s on track and we’re all cheering them on you look at results and they won,” Morrow said. “It’s so nice to see everybody perform the way that they want to and get those big PRs.”

The Class AAA girls high jump and long jump competitions are scheduled for Saturday. Morrow will compete in the high jump in the morning session at 9 a.m. and the long jump at 12:30 p.m.

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