As a freshman at Whitman, Morgane Gay was a state champion gymnast and good enough, barring injury, to be assured a college scholarship. But after nine years of rigorous training, Gay was burned out. So she turned to a less demanding sport — cross country.
Less demanding?
Few would describe running 50 miles a week as easy. But compared to the hours, bruises and trauma Gay experienced in gymnastics, cross country is a relative jog in the park.
Saturday at the Montgomery County Cross Country Championships, Gay made her new sport look easy as she breezed past leader Cara Harrison of Quince Orchard to capture the girls title and establish a new course record at Gaithersburg High.
Gay (18 minutes, 14 seconds) trailed by 15 meters before sprinting to the lead less than 500 meters from the finish. In Harrison (18:26), Gay beat a runner who also broke the previous course record. Gay also toppled three-time defending champion Halsey Sinclair (18:39) of Blair who set the previous course record (18:28) in 2004.
“I was very surprised,” said Gay, a junior. “I didn’t come in with great expectations. Cara had beaten me twice this year. I was just hoping to get in the top five.”
This has been a season of discovery for Gay. Last year on the same course, she placed 18th in the county championships (20:40) and was in “la-la land,” she said of her first season of competitive running.
But Gay hit her stride in the indoor season, placing second in the state championships in the 800. More success followed before her outdoor season was cut short by a pulled hamstring.
As a freshman, fed up with gymnastics, Gay found inspiration to run in her geometry class, taught by Whitman cross country and track coach Stephen Hays.
“We talked about running all the time,” said Hays. “She e-mailed me over the summer, saying she was interested.”
More than a year later, Gay’s interest hasn’t waned. During a three-week stay this summer in Greece, Gay remained true to her 50-mile per week regimen, running the beaches, hills and tiny streets of the island of Naxos.
“Sometimes it was hard to get motivated to do it,” said Gay. “But my dad would run with me, some of the way.”
More on Morgane
» Gay’s parents are French. Thus the spelling of her first name.
» Gay won the Maryland Level 8 state gymnastics title in 2004. There are 10 levels in the sport.
» Gay’s breakout came the weekend before last when she won her heat at the Manhattan Invitational. Her time (15:02) was comparable with Eleanor Roosevelt’s Marika Walker (14:44) and Tekisha Rivers (15:03), who ran the same course that day in another heat. Walker and Rivers finished 1-2 in the state 4A race last year.
