Pleasant Grove's returning #1 runner is rising senior Haley Tanne with a 5K best of 18:04 and ran times of 11:21 for 3200 and 5:09 for 1600 meters on the track.
After finishing 3rd in Region 4 and 7th in 5A at state, the Lady Vikings of Pleasant Grove return everybody. Coach Morrison admits that the team was disappointed with the State meet finish but he has all his runners back with a focus on "keeping it real" in hopes of breaking through this season as one of the top teams in the state of Utah. I interviewed Coach Morrison this morning to find out how the clearly favored girls program is doing this summer.
Top 7 Girls Returnees Based On 3 Mile Times
| Pleasant Grove (UT) | 461 | |||
| 1) Haley Tanne | 18:19.00 | 31 | ||
| 2) Skye Jeppson | 18:25.10 | 37 | ||
| 3) Mya Mkown | 19:16.30 | 111 | ||
| 4) Melanie Gomez | 19:22.50 | 124 | ||
| 5) Lacey Johnson | 19:41.80 | 158 | ||
| Average Time: 19:00.94 Total Time: 1:35:04.70 1-5 Split: 1:22.80 | ||||
| 6) Nicole Sheridan | 19:57.20 | 184 | ||
| 7) Erika Olsen | 20:10.60 | 217 | ||
Interview with Mark Morrison (Pleasant Grove HS)
Q. How many years have you been coaching and how many at PG?
A. 7 years total. 5 at Pleasant Grove HS. The first two were as an assistant at American Fork HS.
Q. What is your athletic background?
A. I wrestled played baseball and ran XC at Cedar City HS.
Q. Tell us something about yourself that most of us don't already know.
A. I teach native American dance and make native American clothing.
Q. What is your philosophy on training and being successful for the season?
A. I tell the kids to make improvements from year to year by having good habits both in and out of season. I remind them also that you only get out of it what you put in to it.
Q. What are your go to workouts that kick things up a notch in preparation for a big race?
A. American Fork has the Grinder and we have the Reaper. It's the same distance 1.3mi timed run as AF but a bit steeper up the hill at Kiwanis Park here in town. Of course our capillary runs and kick simulation are good to for leg turnover and race preparation.
Q. What's your race schedule look like?
A. No big meets early on but we start with Grass Relays and stay low key until Region 4 and State meet.
Q. How does the team look this year?
A. We have our top 7 back. Halley Tanne and Skye Jeppson who ended their junior track seasons going 1-2 in the 2000m steeple chase at the Great Southwest meet are clear leaders on the team. Mya Mckown, Erika Olson and Nicole Sheridian who missed much of last track season due to injury round out the top 5. Melanie Gomez and Lacey Johnson have had a great summer also.
Q. Looking into your crystal ball for a moment when the season is done and all the results are in, what key things will you be able to point to that got you those results.
A. We will be the team that was mentally prepared, kept it real, took it all in stride and enjoyed the journey.
