From consistently standing on the podium at the CARIFTA Games to dominating the CARICOM 10km, Run Barbados, Antigua’s 10km, and the University of West Indies Half Marathon, Alika Morgan reigned as regional distance running queen in the past six years.
Morgan picked up the mantle after Cleveland Forde had won his three consecutive CARIFTA outings, and helped cement Guyana as long distance powerhouses in the Caribbean. Her consistent success was undeniable, although several hurdles prevented her from ascending to where she ought to have been at this point.
Close to two years ago, Morgan sustained her first injury, and has never quite been her sensational self since. Now 20 years old, Alika has rooms full of medals and trophies, but is still campaigning on the local scene for the majority of her season, with a few overseas meets which she can afford to compete in with the help of sponsors. She is not studying in some college in the U.S.A., or training at some high altitude facility as some of the other CARIFTA medallists like herself.
Prior to the injury woes, Morgan was desperately battling to improve her grades so that she would be able to obtain a scholarship and further her athletics’ aspirations. Those aspirations have been further delayed as Alika has had to fight to overcome injuries, get back to optimum fitness, and improve on her times all at once.
That is where Alika Morgan is at presently, after five CARIFTA Games medals (three silver and two bronze), four consecutive Caricom 10km, and after winning two of the country’s highest sporting awards. Alika was the 2008 Junior Sportswoman and Senior Sportswoman of the Year and was also runner-up for the 2007 and 2009 Junior and Senior Sportswoman of the Year awards. That seems to point to the conclusion that Alika is one of the most talented athletes that this country has seen in recent years.
Alika had even inspired young female athletes such as Jevina Straker and Janella Jonas to follow in her footsteps. Jonas was the first to publicly announce that she aspired to be like Alika, and a few years later, under Alika’s coach Leslie Black, Jonas won bronze medals at the South American Youth Championships and CARIFTA Games.
Next, there was Straker, who attended Alika’s alma mater and dreamed of being so much like the four-time Caricom 10km winner that she switched from Royal Youth Movement track club to be trained by Black. Straker and Jonas trained alongside Morgan and CARIFTA 1500m Under-17 champion.
While Straker continues to progress, her predecessor, Alika, has been on a downward spiral. However, Black, who has coached Morgan from day one, dismissed speculations of Alika’s career being on a one-way, dead-end street.
Black said his optimism is based on qualities that he has observed in Morgan during the years that he has coached her.
“Alika is one athlete who has the determination to rebound and get back to where she was. I see her getting back there as long as she remains focused and continues to devote herself, because this is a very testing age for her,” Black said.
Morgan’s personal best in the 10km event, according to Black, is 38 minutes, 26 seconds, but she has been struggling to break the 40-minute mark following the injuries.
Alika’s biggest challenge
“I think that by training hard just as I used to, I can get back there,” Alika said. Although she has outgrown the junior category, Alika said that she has no doubt in her mind that she will be able to compete and be successful at the senior level.
“I don’t feel it will be challenging [to compete at the senior level] because when I was a junior I used to be running with the seniors all the time; so now I don’t think it will be anything big.
With her determination towards training, and confidence and support from her coach, Alika is still missing something. The intervention from Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) is absent, since Morgan, while injured, has not been able to produce the results to gain favour in the selectors’ eyes.
The area that Morgan’s coach and manager, Black, identified as the one that is critical to her success and that needs the most help is her academics. Black said that Morgan has been offered several scholarships in North American but he still cites academic qualifications as needful for her to progress.
“She really needs to focus more on her academics; she needs someone to sit down and work with her and talk to her and guide her,” Black said.
Black, who has coached top athletes such as Forde, Reonna Cornette and Kelvin Johnson, said that, rather than help her progress, the AAG has been critical of her and it has been frustrating to her as an athlete. While Morgan had been nursing injuries, she competed overseas; and after not performing at her optimum, the AAG has been upbraiding the athlete and her coach for competing while injured, according to Black.
Morgan began this season on a productive note, winning the National Cross Country last Sunday at the National Park. Black said that he was pleased with his athlete’s performance, since she had not been training as intensely as she ought to. He expects much progress for Alika in 2011.
