 Morgan at the 2015 Parapan American Games | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1974-06-14) June 14, 1974 (age 50) Port Jefferson, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Texas Christian University Washington University |
| Height | 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Paralympic athletics |
| Disability class | T52 |
| Event | 100-800 m |
| Medal record | |
Kerri Morgan (born June 11, 1974) is an American Paralympian T52 wheelchair racer. She won the 800 m event at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships.
Personal life
Morgan was born in 1974 in Port Jefferson, New York. She completed a degree in psychology at Texas Christian University, later gaining a master's degree in occupational therapy from Washington University in St. Louis. She later worked as an intern at the White House before taking on the role as occupational therapist at Washington University.
Sporting career
Morgan did not set out to be a wheelchair sprint athlete, preferring to play wheelchair rugby and became the first woman to make the U.S. rugby team. In 2009, she was part of the U.S. Rugby team that won gold at the IWRF Americas Championship in Buenos Aires. She took to the track in an attempt to improve her speed on the rugby court, only to find that she had an aptitude to racing.
In 2007, she took first place in the 200m and second place in the 100m at the U.S. national meet. The next year she achieved the same results at the U.S. Paralympic Trials for Track and Field event at Tempe, Arizona. Her success at the trials saw her chosen for both sprint events in the T52 class at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. In Beijing Morgan finished fifth in both races.
In 2011, she joined the U.S. team at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand. Morgan competed in four events, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m and 800 m. She won the 800 m becoming world champion in the T52 class, while she collected silver in the other three races. In all three events where she finished second she was beaten by Canadian Michelle Stilwell, but at 800 m it was Morgan who beat Stilwell into second place.
Morgan qualified for her second Paralympic Games in 2012 in London. She entered both the 100 m and 200 m sprint taking bronze in both. The next year Morgan travelled to France to take part in the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon. There she won the bronze in the 100 m, and silver in both the 200 m and 800 m, denied by her old rival, Michelle Stilwell.
References
- Kerri Morgan. teamusa.org
- ^ "Kerri Morgan". mo-il-olympians.org. Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
- ^ Glaus, Heidi (August 6, 2012). "Kerri Morgan goes for gold in London". ksdk.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
- "Kerri Morgan: Track and Field". teamusa.org. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
- "Congratulations, Kerri Morgan!". paraquad.org. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
External links
Categories:- Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
- Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States
- Paralympic silver medalists for the United States
- American female sprinters
- Living people
- 1974 births
- People from Port Jefferson, New York
- Sportspeople from Brookhaven, New York
- Texas Christian University alumni
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
- Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games
- Washington University in St. Louis alumni
- 20th-century American women
- 21st-century American sportswomen