Local harrier nabs pair of All-Americans

From staff reports
Published: July 27, 2008

Josh Morris, who ran at Liberty Christian Academy as a sophomore last year, placed in two events representing Team Virginia at the National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships this weekend at Burke High School in Omaha, Neb., capped by Sunday’s 11th-place showing out of 34 runners in the 1,500 meters.

Seeded 11th after Friday’s qualifying, when he ran a personal best time of 4 minutes, 15 seconds — beating the time he qualified in at a Junior Olympic Regional meet in Rock Hill, S.C. — Morris set another PR Sunday with his 4:09.93.

On Thursday, Morris, placed third in the 2000-meter steeplechase in 6:12 and fourth out of 21 runners in the 5,000 in 15:39.

“To be a two-event high school all-American, that’s amazing,”  Team Virginia coach Fred Henderson said. “That’s the hardest triple you can do in track and field. To race that many times in that few days, and set personal best times in each event, that’s unheard of.”

Morris, who turned 17 just three days before the national meet started, competed in the 17-18-year-old division. Two of the runners that beat him were freshmen in college, one at Baylor.

“He’s a competitor,” Henderson said. “He wants to race against the best kids, period. He’s only been running for a year and a half. Give him another three years and watch out. He’s probably running the fastest 5,000 time in the state of Virginia going into the cross country season.”