By Steve Ritchie 
Silverton High School junior Morgan Anderson seems like a sweet, gentle young lady who may be a little excitable at times but doesn’t have an aggressive bone in her body.
Don’t let her fool you.
This girl is an absolutely ruthless destroyer, at least when it comes to distance races and taking down her competition, as well as school track and field records that have stood for decades.
Way back in 1984, Andra Ogden set the SHS record in the 1500 meters at 4:55.1 as a sophomore. Her record became untouchable. No one got within four seconds of Ogden’s time during the next 26 years.
Then Anderson came along.
In 2010, she broke Ogden’s long-standing record and did it by no less than six seconds, running 4:49.17 in a mid-season meet at Jesuit High School and she went on to place seventh at the 5A State Meet in May.
Anderson struck again this year.
In the same Twilight Relays Meet at Jesuit, she broke her own record in the 1500, again by six seconds, as she placed ninth in a time of 4:43.41. Her personal record (PR) is now nearly 12 seconds under the formerly unbreakable record, and yet it doesn’t sound like Anderson is even close to being satisfied with her time.
“It (the record) is pretty good,” Anderson grudgingly admitted. “But the selfish part of me . . . wants to put that record as high as I possibly can because I want it to stay a little longer. I mean I want the best for my teammates, but it would be a little sucky if someone breaks (my record) and then the next year someone breaks that … With the new high school and everything it might be awhile before they get the track record board up (in the new school). That thing is huge, and I want my name to be up there when they get it up.”
Anderson has been through a similar process in the 3000 meters. The school record of 11:01.5, again set by Andra Ogden during her sophomore year in 1984, stood for 23 years until Sarah Wood broke it in 2001 by running 10:37.75. Wood’s record lasted nine years. Then Anderson broke it last year in the state meet, surprising everyone with what she called a “huge PR” of 10:28.10 to take second place.
That was a mental breakthrough, of sorts, because Anderson says she does not usually enjoy racing at 3000 meters, which can seem very long for runners, especially when they don’t have a lot of competition to keep the mind engaged.
“I hate the 3000 as a race… it’s so awful,” Anderson said.
However, in the 3000 meter race at the state meet last year, Anderson got swept up in the moment. The competition and the atmosphere were so intense the race seemed to whiz by as she just focused on passing people and taking second pace.
Erik Cross, the girls’ head coach at SHS, has coached Anderson this year. He believes her greatest strength in running is her competitiveness.
“Morgan is a gamer,” Cross said. “She thrives in race situations. Even when she may not get the result she was wanting, you rarely see (her make) a mistake twice and she always seems to figure out how to bounce back and go faster. She likes to front run, but as we saw at Jesuit, she can be in the middle of the pack, in a great field of runners, and run quality splits for a big PR.”
Anderson’s competitive drive carried her to victories in the 1500 and the 3000 at Silverton’s recent district meet. Anderson was never pressed in either race, and won by a large margin over her competition. She also ran the anchor (last) leg on Silverton’s 4 x 400 relay, which placed second in district. By finishing first in the 1500 and 3000, Anderson qualified for the state meet in both events for the second straight year. The 4×400 relay team also qualified.
The 5A State Track and Field Championships, held May 20-21 at Hayward Field in Eugene, proved to be a little more challenging for Anderson. Megan Fristoe of Summit High School pulled away from Anderson to win the 3000 on the meet’s first day, as Anderson finished as the runner-up for the second straight year.
Her time of 10:30.66 just missed her school record. Anderson also placed 4th in the 1500 in 4:45.53, which was only two seconds off her personal and school record.
A word of warning to whoever is putting up the new SHS track records: You might want to wait until Anderson graduates to redo the record boards. If she has her way, Anderson’s current records might soon be toast, just like a few other old records she has taken down and left in the garbage bin.
