Life as a Mountaineer - Morgan Phillips
March 03, 2019 09:00 AM | Rifle
Morgan Phillips, West Virginia's two-time defending smallbore national champion, once had to overcome a bad case of the nerves before competing.
"I felt like I could throw up before the match because it was just a big deal," she admitted. "It's a big deal being a freshman and a part of that team where most of the team has that experience."
But the Salisbury, Maryland, resident has remained calm enough to win a smallbore national title as a freshman.
And last year, she repeated.
"Coming in last year was definitely different because I've been there and we had a national championship that we wanted to defend and an individual one, too, so my freshman year throughout the final I led the whole time," Phillips recalled.
"I was way ahead of everybody. There was not a whole lot of pressure toward the end of the final and last year it was more of a comeback towards the end," the junior noted. "That one was almost more special to me coming back and defending my title, but also coming from behind that was really special."
Phillips said she relied on her training to get through last year's championship.
"I think in situations when the pressure is on in a final like that we really focus on the sports (psychology) stuff that we work on," she said. "Basically, trying to stay in the present moment and not worry about what other people are shooting. I was just really focused on each individual shot that I was taking and I didn't care about the other scores that were being read out at all."
Each season brings new challenges and for Phillips, it was dealing with a painful hip injury that kept her out of some competitions.
"Sitting out matches is very tough," the sport exercise psychology major admitted. "I want to be out there competing with the rest of the team and I had to remind myself the whole time that it's going to get better and you never know what's going to happen, so you just have to stay present with it.
"My teammates were amazing," she added. "They were so supportive. Part of the reason I was so upset about (the injury) was I didn't want to let them down. I wanted to be out there competing with them and contributing as much as possible and I wasn't, but they always reminded me that I was still a part of this team and I could still contribute and be a great teammate to everyone."
West Virginia, coming off its 13thconference championship last weekend, has once again qualified for this year's NCAA championships to be held next Friday and Saturday in Morgantown.
The team is presently ranked fourth in the country and seems to be peaking at the right time.
"It's been on an upward swing all year so I think we're heading in the right direction for the postseason," Phillips remarked. "We are just staying in our own bubble and focusing on what we need to do to perform well at this match."
Phillips said getting the opportunity to compete in front of friends and family in the WVU Coliseum will be a very exciting experience for her and her teammates.
"The support that we have from this state is amazing. It's definitely the most support of any team out there," she concluded.
Life as a Mountaineer is presented by WVU Medicine.
Produced by Sarah Ramundt.
"I felt like I could throw up before the match because it was just a big deal," she admitted. "It's a big deal being a freshman and a part of that team where most of the team has that experience."
But the Salisbury, Maryland, resident has remained calm enough to win a smallbore national title as a freshman.
And last year, she repeated.
"Coming in last year was definitely different because I've been there and we had a national championship that we wanted to defend and an individual one, too, so my freshman year throughout the final I led the whole time," Phillips recalled.
"I was way ahead of everybody. There was not a whole lot of pressure toward the end of the final and last year it was more of a comeback towards the end," the junior noted. "That one was almost more special to me coming back and defending my title, but also coming from behind that was really special."
Phillips said she relied on her training to get through last year's championship.
"I think in situations when the pressure is on in a final like that we really focus on the sports (psychology) stuff that we work on," she said. "Basically, trying to stay in the present moment and not worry about what other people are shooting. I was just really focused on each individual shot that I was taking and I didn't care about the other scores that were being read out at all."
Each season brings new challenges and for Phillips, it was dealing with a painful hip injury that kept her out of some competitions.
"Sitting out matches is very tough," the sport exercise psychology major admitted. "I want to be out there competing with the rest of the team and I had to remind myself the whole time that it's going to get better and you never know what's going to happen, so you just have to stay present with it.
"My teammates were amazing," she added. "They were so supportive. Part of the reason I was so upset about (the injury) was I didn't want to let them down. I wanted to be out there competing with them and contributing as much as possible and I wasn't, but they always reminded me that I was still a part of this team and I could still contribute and be a great teammate to everyone."
West Virginia, coming off its 13thconference championship last weekend, has once again qualified for this year's NCAA championships to be held next Friday and Saturday in Morgantown.
The team is presently ranked fourth in the country and seems to be peaking at the right time.
"It's been on an upward swing all year so I think we're heading in the right direction for the postseason," Phillips remarked. "We are just staying in our own bubble and focusing on what we need to do to perform well at this match."
Phillips said getting the opportunity to compete in front of friends and family in the WVU Coliseum will be a very exciting experience for her and her teammates.
"The support that we have from this state is amazing. It's definitely the most support of any team out there," she concluded.
Life as a Mountaineer is presented by WVU Medicine.
Produced by Sarah Ramundt.
Players Mentioned
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