Cheyenne East senior Taliah Morris won three state titles, set records amid difficult schedule

Morris’ work ethic, ability and personality have earned her so much respect at East that nobody would have questioned her for skipping the 200 final to take a shot at the 20-foot mark.

“It was her choice,” East indoor coach Amanda Brinkman said. “She’s earned the right to make that choice. She could have stayed in the finals and gone for the 20-foot mark, but she wanted to try and win three events for our team.

“That shows what kind of person she is and what she was really trying to accomplish. She wasn’t trying to get three individual titles for her own glory, she wanted to do that because she thought it would help us win a team title. She really wanted a team title before she left here.”

Once Morris decided she was going to do both long jump and the 200, East’s coaches entered her in long jump without a seed distance. That put her in an earlier flight, giving her three jumps to clinch a state title because she was skipping the long jump finals to prepare for the 200.

Morris posted a winning leap of 19 feet, 8½ inches on her third and final jump, which shattered her own state record. She ran identical state record times of 25.11 seconds in the preliminaries and finals to win the 200. Morris also won the 55-meter dash in 7.16 seconds, and joined Ynes Ronnau, Emma Smith and Kendra Upton on the state runner-up 4x400 relay team (4 minutes, 15.94 seconds).

In all, Morris accounted for 32 team points and set two state records to help the Thunderbirds capture their third indoor track state title. East needed every one of Morris’ points to edge out Laramie 99.5-92.5 in the team standings.

Those efforts earned Morris recognition as WyoSports Cheyenne’s inaugural Laramie County individual sports athlete of the winter season.

“I knew we had the opportunity to win state as a team, so that was my end goal,” Morris said. “I’ve wanted to jump 20, and it might have been doable if I had more attempts. Track is a very individual sport, but it’s also a team sport. You have to set aside what you want for the team goals.

“Winning a state title as a team gave me a greater feeling than I would have had if I had been able to jump 20. That would have been an amazing accomplishment, but I won a state championship with my best friends, and that’s even cooler.”

Mental fortitude

Morris admits she may not have been equipped to clinch a state championship in just three jumps earlier in her career.

Her track talent has been apparent since she competed in Cheyenne’s elementary school meets. It became undeniable once Morris’ times and distances started being logged during her seventh grade year at Carey Junior High. Even though she was barely a teenager, Morris’ top times and marks would have had her finishing well up the podium at the 4A state meet.

She continued her ascent during her first indoor season at the high school level, but that didn’t keep self-doubt from creeping in at that year’s state meet.

“I thought, ‘Oh, these girls are older, and they’re so good. I’m not as good as them,’” Morris said. “I looked at everyone else as being better than me because they had more experience. I ended up not placing in long jump that year because I was so nervous I couldn’t get on the board.

“If I had just gone out and done what I had been doing, I would have performed a lot better. I was mentally unprepared for my first state meet. Self-love is so important in this sport. You have to be confident in who you are and what you can do.”

Morris’ accomplishments over the course of her high school career helped her build the confidence necessary for sustained excellence. She has won seven indoor state titles and four outdoor championships. Morris now owns three state records.

Morris’ first jump of this year’s state meet registered 18-8, which would have been good enough to win the title by nearly a foot. Her second leap of 19-3 broke her own state record by an inch. Morris dusted the field by 1-9¼ with a mark of 19-8½ on her final attempt. That distance also matched her outdoor state record.

The first jump was the most important, though.

“I need to get on the board, no matter the distance,” Morris said. “It’s kind of like a relief. I’m more calm and relaxed on my next two jumps if I get a mark on the first. I was super dialed in and focused on getting on the board on that first jump.”

The more Morris practiced and competed during the season, the better her surgically repaired right ankle felt and the faster she got. The added speed resulted in scratching a few big jumps over the course of the season and forced her to move her starting mark back 10 feet.

East arrived in Gillette the night before the state meet, which gave Morris a few additional run-throughs at the Campbell County Recreation Center to dial in her starting point on the runway.

Figuring out how to tamp down comparison helped Morris clear the mental obstacles hampering her performance.

“You have to reassure yourself that you’re the best person in that event and that no one can beat you,” she said. “Being able to take a deep breath, take those three jumps and get a state record was huge. It shows my mental and physical growth in the sport.”

Battling back

Morris has amassed her impressive résumé while battling a nagging right ankle injury that has required two surgeries. The first came during the fall of her sophomore year. She sat out nearly the entire indoor season that year, but came back for the state meet, where she finished second in the 55 and helped the T-Birds take fourth in the 4x400.

She was as healthy as she had been throughout the 2023 indoor season, and won state titles in the 55, 200 and long jump while taking third in triple jump — an event that had previously contributed to her injuries.

Morris’ balky right ankle started acting up late in the outdoor season. She battled through the pain to set the 4A long jump record and place second in the 100-meter dash. Morris posted the fastest prelim time in the 200, but had to walk the final because the pain in her right ankle had become too much to bear.

“She’s made a mark for herself and put her name in the record books,” Brinkman said. “She’s become legendary. … She’s got so much more left in the tank, and she’s finally starting to feel healthy.

“She’s extremely confident now. Outdoors is going to be an exciting season for her.”

Morris had her most recent surgery shortly after last spring’s outdoor state meet. She made a return to the volleyball court after a few weeks on the sideline. The return was short-lived due to inflammation in her right ankle. Morris made the hard choice to end her season prematurely so she could focus on rehabbing the injury to get as healthy and strong as possible for track season.

She took it slowly this winter and only competed in a handful of meets.

“The end goal was always state,” Morris said. “Now matter how I was feeling at any other point in the season, the goal was to be ready to go by state. I didn’t want to push myself too hard and push myself over the limit and cause myself to fail early and re-injure myself.

“It had to be a gradual buildup. Indoors was all a preparation for outdoors.”

Morris regained some of her strength during the indoor season, despite not lifting weights. She has recently returned to the weight room due to the gains she made over the winter.

“I can handle lifting now because I’ve worked on my endurance, my strength and my speed and let it all build back up,” she said. “Getting the second surgery taught me that my body is only going to be so good for so long, so I had better take care of it.

“The better I take care of it, the better I’ll perform.”

Others recognized for their efforts:

n Brady Benne, boys diving, Cheyenne Central: The freshman won every meet he entered this season, including claiming the 4A state title 83.15 points ahead of the runner-up.

n Caleb Brewer, boys swimming, Cheyenne South: The senior won 4A state championships in the 200-yard individual medley (1 minute, 58.30 seconds) and 100 butterfly (51.81 seconds). That was his second butterfly state title. Brewer also was voted 4A’s athlete of the year and athlete of the meet.

n Charlie Green, boys wrestling, East: The senior capped his career with a 285-pound championship at the 4A state meet. He won three bouts by pin at state and finished the season with a 54-6 record.

n Liam Fox, boys wrestling, East: The junior captured his third Class 4A state championship by going 4-0 with three pins in the 150-pound bracket. He finished the season 44-5 overall.

n Tegan Krause, boys track, Central: The sophomore claimed state titles in the 55- and 200-meter dashes at the 4A state meet. He finished the 55 in 6.55 seconds and the 200 in 22.46.

n Maggie Madsen, girls indoor track, East: The freshman won 4A state championships in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Madsen finished the 800 in 2 minutes, 21.70 seconds, winning by just three-hundredths of a second. She finished the 1,600 in 5:14.01 and the 3,200 in 11:16.54. She won the 3,200 by 23 seconds.

n Colby Olson, boys wrestling, East: Olson closed his high school career by rallying for a 7-6 victory in the 190-pound championship match at the Class 4A state tournament. He posted a 39-14 record during his senior season.