By: Craig Morgan
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Among the myriad possibilities in Shaunie Morrison's post-Sun Devil life, there are two divergent paths that would make her equally happy.
The first, and one the one she has been training for all season, is a professional track and field career as a hurdler.
Morrison, a senior, owns the 15th best time in the nation in the 60-meter hurdles after opening the indoor season with a time of 8.32 seconds at the NAU Friday Night Duals at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff on Jan. 12. It was the seventh-best time in school history.
"I think she can be a world-class hurdler as long as she believes she can," sprints and hurdles coach Devin West said. "The tools are there. She has amazing power and tremendous speed. If you have those two things, there really is no ceiling."
More on that in a moment, but first, that second path to happiness. It would definitely involve dogs.
"Dogs are my life," Morrison said. "There's an island called Land of the Strays where there are like 900 dogs. The volunteers stay on the island and give them baths and food. You can play with them and adopt them. I want to retire there."
Morrison has a lengthy and heart-warming history with dogs. Her mom, Belinda, runs a dog rescue, adoption and sanctuary service in Calgary, Alberta, Morrison's hometown. It's called CB Rescue.
"She goes to the Dominican Republic once a month and brings back like 20 stray dogs," Morrison said. "It's actually easy to get them out. My mom works with someone and they get the dogs on the plane for free. She brings them back to our house, so there's always dogs running around, but she finds foster homes for them in a day or two."
The Morrisons have eight dogs of their own, including two Chihuahuas, two pit bulls; three mutts and a Boston terrier-Pug mix named Maya who sleeps in Shaunie's bed whenever she returns home.
"She has always slept with me since we got her so when I moved to go to college she was sad and she would just wait at the bottom of stairs," Morrison said. "She got kind of depressed so when I come home for the holidays, I look at her and say, 'Maya, bed!' She runs up the stairs, crawls underneath the blanket and nests there all night.
"To go from eight dogs to none is depressing so whenever I see a dog here I go crazy."
Morrison has plenty of distractions these days. The weight of her senior season has settled upon her shoulders as the second semester begins, so she is trying to zero in on a longtime goal of making the NCAA meet with West and assistant sprints coach Javonie Small, both in their first year.
"This season has a different vibe because of coach West and Small," Morrison said. "They make it better. I'm the type of person who has to vibe with my coach. If I don't, I don't want to come to practice.
"I've known coach West since I met him at [World Juniors] in Barcelona. I literally can trust him with anything. He believes in me more than any coach ever has which gives me more confidence."
Morrison placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles at her first-ever MPSF Championships last season with a mark of 8.42. She hopes to improve on her season-opening time this weekend at the Texas A&M Team Invitational.
Under West, Morrison has come to enjoy lifting weights and she has doubled the pounds she can power clean. West has also been refining a few things in Morrison's technique. The biggest change is something she never gave any thought before he arrived.
"Shaunie is a really great hurdler over the hurdles," West said. "What I have tried to do -- and she has bought into this as well -- is try to make her faster between the hurdles.
"We do a lot of ground contact drills. The whole point is trying to be active and aggressive on the ground. If you are that way, you're going to be aggressive over the hurdle. I want her to sprint on the ground. With hurdlers, they can completely forget about getting back down on the ground and actually sprinting. They just focus on the next hurdle."
Morrison said she has been working with West on quickening her descent.
"We've been doing wickets, snapping down when you get over the hurdle," she said. "When you're in the air for less time, your time will be better. I obviously didn't understand that until he became my coach, but this year the speed is way different. I'm definitely seeing a difference."
West said Morrison is a quick study, which makes coaching easier. It has also made him forgive some of what he jokingly calls her quirkiness, including a desire to train with earphones and music -- usually 21 Savage.
"The other day, she ran the first couple reps without headphones and then she said, 'coach, I really need my headphones,'" West said. "I said, 'alright, get your headphones' and the last three reps were actually better than her first three."
Unfortunately for Morrison, headphones are not allowed at meets.
"I just have to work with what I've got," she said, laughing.
If Morrison can cap off her senior season on a high, she hopes to turn pro and travel the world. She has already visited multiple locations for track, and lists Barcelona and the Isle of Man as her favorites spots so far.
"I want to live in Barcelona for a couple years," she said. "I went there for 10 days and it was probably the best experience of my life."
First things first, West said.
"Statistically the NCAA meet is the hardest track meet to make in the world," he said. "It's the top 16 out of every division I school in the country, so over 300 schools.
"I don't think she and I are just satisfied with making that meet, we want to make noise at that meet, make the finals. Everything we do is tailored toward that."
West reiterated that Morrison has the tools.
"She has no idea how really great she can be," he said.
The dogs may have to wait.
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Among the myriad possibilities in Shaunie Morrison's post-Sun Devil life, there are two divergent paths that would make her equally happy.
The first, and one the one she has been training for all season, is a professional track and field career as a hurdler.
Morrison, a senior, owns the 15th best time in the nation in the 60-meter hurdles after opening the indoor season with a time of 8.32 seconds at the NAU Friday Night Duals at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff on Jan. 12. It was the seventh-best time in school history.
"I think she can be a world-class hurdler as long as she believes she can," sprints and hurdles coach Devin West said. "The tools are there. She has amazing power and tremendous speed. If you have those two things, there really is no ceiling."
More on that in a moment, but first, that second path to happiness. It would definitely involve dogs.
"Dogs are my life," Morrison said. "There's an island called Land of the Strays where there are like 900 dogs. The volunteers stay on the island and give them baths and food. You can play with them and adopt them. I want to retire there."
Morrison has a lengthy and heart-warming history with dogs. Her mom, Belinda, runs a dog rescue, adoption and sanctuary service in Calgary, Alberta, Morrison's hometown. It's called CB Rescue.
"She goes to the Dominican Republic once a month and brings back like 20 stray dogs," Morrison said. "It's actually easy to get them out. My mom works with someone and they get the dogs on the plane for free. She brings them back to our house, so there's always dogs running around, but she finds foster homes for them in a day or two."
The Morrisons have eight dogs of their own, including two Chihuahuas, two pit bulls; three mutts and a Boston terrier-Pug mix named Maya who sleeps in Shaunie's bed whenever she returns home.
"She has always slept with me since we got her so when I moved to go to college she was sad and she would just wait at the bottom of stairs," Morrison said. "She got kind of depressed so when I come home for the holidays, I look at her and say, 'Maya, bed!' She runs up the stairs, crawls underneath the blanket and nests there all night.
"To go from eight dogs to none is depressing so whenever I see a dog here I go crazy."
Morrison has plenty of distractions these days. The weight of her senior season has settled upon her shoulders as the second semester begins, so she is trying to zero in on a longtime goal of making the NCAA meet with West and assistant sprints coach Javonie Small, both in their first year.
"This season has a different vibe because of coach West and Small," Morrison said. "They make it better. I'm the type of person who has to vibe with my coach. If I don't, I don't want to come to practice.
"I've known coach West since I met him at [World Juniors] in Barcelona. I literally can trust him with anything. He believes in me more than any coach ever has which gives me more confidence."
Morrison placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles at her first-ever MPSF Championships last season with a mark of 8.42. She hopes to improve on her season-opening time this weekend at the Texas A&M Team Invitational.
Under West, Morrison has come to enjoy lifting weights and she has doubled the pounds she can power clean. West has also been refining a few things in Morrison's technique. The biggest change is something she never gave any thought before he arrived.
"Shaunie is a really great hurdler over the hurdles," West said. "What I have tried to do -- and she has bought into this as well -- is try to make her faster between the hurdles.
"We do a lot of ground contact drills. The whole point is trying to be active and aggressive on the ground. If you are that way, you're going to be aggressive over the hurdle. I want her to sprint on the ground. With hurdlers, they can completely forget about getting back down on the ground and actually sprinting. They just focus on the next hurdle."
Morrison said she has been working with West on quickening her descent.
"We've been doing wickets, snapping down when you get over the hurdle," she said. "When you're in the air for less time, your time will be better. I obviously didn't understand that until he became my coach, but this year the speed is way different. I'm definitely seeing a difference."
West said Morrison is a quick study, which makes coaching easier. It has also made him forgive some of what he jokingly calls her quirkiness, including a desire to train with earphones and music -- usually 21 Savage.
"The other day, she ran the first couple reps without headphones and then she said, 'coach, I really need my headphones,'" West said. "I said, 'alright, get your headphones' and the last three reps were actually better than her first three."
Unfortunately for Morrison, headphones are not allowed at meets.
"I just have to work with what I've got," she said, laughing.
If Morrison can cap off her senior season on a high, she hopes to turn pro and travel the world. She has already visited multiple locations for track, and lists Barcelona and the Isle of Man as her favorites spots so far.
"I want to live in Barcelona for a couple years," she said. "I went there for 10 days and it was probably the best experience of my life."
First things first, West said.
"Statistically the NCAA meet is the hardest track meet to make in the world," he said. "It's the top 16 out of every division I school in the country, so over 300 schools.
"I don't think she and I are just satisfied with making that meet, we want to make noise at that meet, make the finals. Everything we do is tailored toward that."
West reiterated that Morrison has the tools.
"She has no idea how really great she can be," he said.
The dogs may have to wait.
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter