Running for a Dream: Morgan Jensen
11/21/2024
Morgan Jensen always knew she was going to end up a Ute, but running for Utah at the Division I level wasn’t a forgone conclusion.
Red and White runs deep in the Jensen family. The countless University of Utah graduates span generations – including Jensen, a fifth-year senior on the cross country and track & field team.
Jensen really didn’t take running seriously or even have it on her radar until she attended Indian Hills Middle School where she continually beat out her classmates in fitness tests and fun runs. She even thinks she still owns the school record in the mile test.
Things got more serious in high school for Jensen where she was a four-year letter winner at Alta High School in both cross country and track & field. She was a three-time state participant in cross country and recorded a podium finish her senior year (third-place).
When it came down to choosing where she would run at the collegiate level, Jensen visited five different universities in-state. Utah ended up being the last school she visited just because of its proximity and said it was unintentional with a laugh when asked if she had saved the best for last.
“I think the way Kep recruited, it was a little bit later,” Jensen mentioned. “I was able to experience all the other schools and build questions to see what other schools offered so by the time I visited Utah, I felt like I was a little bit more prepared to ask questions to see what was a good fit for me and what wasn’t.”
However, by the end of that visit her dream was realized and head coach Kyle Kepler had offered a spot on the team. She didn’t commit right then and there, but knew what her answer was and committed shortly thereafter.
With all of our recruits, we are looking for a combination of quality performances, academic fit and people who value team environment. Morgan certainly embodied all of these standards and much more. Upon my evaluation, she always ran hard and challenged people without fear. She had several coaches during her high school years so I knew she could adapt to a new environment fairly quickly. So, the combination of all of this made Morgan someone who I thought had the traits and purpose to be successful as a collegiate student-athlete.”-Head Coach Kyle Kepler
Jensen’s freshman season (2020) had a lot of unknowns and uncertainty because of the pandemic. She finally made her collegiate debut on Feb. 1, 2021, at the Silver State Collegiate Challenge after fall sports were pushed back by the NCAA and competed in three meets her first cross country season. She made her first Pac-12 squad that year, finishing 39th-overall at the conference meet and was Utah’s second finisher that day.
The outdoor season came and went, but things didn’t really normalize for the collegiate world until the 2021-22 school year. But, looking back, that “free” year as some would say for that freshman class proved fruitful down the line.
“I do think it helped me in the long run to get me where I am right now,” said Jensen looking back. “Kep’s training, the consistency of it … I had a lot of coaching changes in high school so it was very inconsistent and I just think a little bit of that consistency really helped me progress quickly.”
With the pandemic-mired season in the rear-view mirror, the Utes took full advantage of the newly-formed transfer portal and signed some high-level runners to the program – which also proved to be instrumental to Jensen’s development.
A big reason why I chose Utah was that I didn’t want to go to a school where I was already going to be the fastest runner because at my high school I would just run with the guys or just run by myself.
The next two cross country seasons (2021-22) proved critical to Jensen’s development as she trained side-by-side with Venters and Plourde – who finished their careers at Utah with seven All-America awards and a pair of Pac-12 titles.
Coupled with the consistency in training from Kepler and training alongside a pair of All-Americans, the year-over-year improvement for Jensen was the textbook example of trusting the process. She improved her time between the 2021 and 2022 seasons by nearly two minutes at both the Pac-12 Championships and NCAA Mountain Regionals meets – which earned her a spot on the NCAA Championships squad in 2022.
“Seeing and being pushed by Emily and Simone, it made me want to keep getting better and kept me motivated,” said Jensen.
“It’s the old adage of iron sharpens iron,” Kepler said of Jensen training with Venters and Plourde. “Morgan is always focused on being a great teammate by learning and challenging herself to improve. She works hard each day. She wasn’t overwhelmed by her teammate’s talent or successes. Morgan saw their improvement as motivation for herself to reach new levels. She’s organized and leads primarily by example, but will be vocal in that role as needed.”
That push has seen Jensen garner back-to-back USTFCCCA All-Region honors and has been a consistent scorer for the Women of Utah the past two seasons (2023-24).
I think I was just trusting the process and trusting Kep. I think I was just trusting Kep on the progression. I talk to Poppy Tank a lot about stuff, like asking her should I start doing this or this and her response would always be ‘Trust in Kep.’
Kep always says, ‘just believe in the training and trust us.’ I think I’ve done that. Kep will send out training and if it says run 80%, I’ll run 80% of my mileage. I kind of just do what he tells me what to do and I think that has been the biggest impact on my career, just trusting him.
Jensen has come a long way since her freshman season at Utah and credits everyone that’s been a part of her journey – especially her parents, who have been to almost every meet she’s competed in during her collegiate career. They, along with her grandparents and members of Corbin’s (her husband) family, will also be on hand at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course to cheer her and the Utes on this Saturday.
“It gives me comfort,” she says about having her parents there every step of the way. “It’s cool to see they believe in me, and it pushes me forward during races. I can hear their voices when I’m racing. I don’t necessarily see them, but I recognize their voice and I’m like oh yeah, I need to do that. It’s nice to have those extra reminders during the races too.”
“When Morgan started at the U we knew her time in the NCAA was limited and we wanted to be at every meet possible to support her and the team,” her father Jim said. “One of the best parts of traveling has been being able to get to know Morgan’s coaches and teammates over the years, as well the other Utah parents and families."
At every step of her running career, Morgan has exceeded our wildest expectations. When she came to the U she had consistency in coaching, athletic training and services. Much of her development is due to the great job of Coach Kep, Charlee and all the Utah athletic department staff. The coaching, training staff, academic support staff and student mental health support staff at Utah have been phenomenal. Morgan’s development is directly linked to these support groups. Plus, Morgan works really hard. When Morgan sets a goal, we never doubt if she can achieve it. We could not be more proud of her and thankful for her experience as a student-athlete at Utah.-Jim Jensen (Utah '94 & 96)
The word ‘culture’ is a bit of cliché in the sports world, but what Coach Kepler has cultivated during his 20-year tenure on the Hill has had a lasting impact on the women that have come through the program all these years. The sisterhood that’s built over time binds them all together not to a singular coach, but a program they can be proud of.
“I just feel like he treats us like people,” Jensen noted about her coach. “He cares how we do, how we perform and all that. But he also cares about our degrees and us outside of running just as like human beings and I think if you are going to run fast you need to be happy and other things need to be going well. It’s just been cool to see the support. Like we just went and watched Cora (Kepler’s eldest daughter) run her race. Kep expressed how much that’s meant to him and his family is coming to watch us race in Wisconsin … it’s just cool to see everyone support each other and I think that was a big reason I chose to come here.”
As her final cross country season nears the end of its chapter, Jensen can rest assured that she’s left her mark on the program that will be ever-lasting.
“Dang, that’s cool, that’s really cool,” was Jensen’s response when finding out that she will have competed in three of the program’s seven NCAA Championship races come Saturday when the gun goes off. “I think it’s just the start to what is to come. I think Utah has the potential to do great things. Knowing that’s happened, it makes me excited for this team and to race on Saturday and for what’s to come for this whole program.”
This is a new age of Utah distance running and she’s been an integral part of the most successful cross country teams in school history. She’s been on three-consecutive NCAA qualifying teams and she’s a two-time all-region performer in the toughest region in the NCAA. She also played a key role in our tie for the ’22 conference championship. While the performances are what everyone notices and talks about, it’s really about what she does as a teammate. The tone that she sets. The leadership that she provides all of her teammates. She does things that go unnoticed, but reflect our environment and standards. Morgan is team first and unselfish as any athlete I’ve ever coached. Her teammates want to perform at a high level for her as much as they do themselves and I think that says as much about her as a person as anything could.-Head Coach Kyle Kepler
The success that the Women of Utah have enjoyed the last few years hasn’t gone unnoticed, but Jensen also recognizes that their success is built on those that have come before them.
“We’ve been able to meet some of the women that were on the team, even before Kep was a coach here and that’s really cool because they started to set it up for us,” Jensen recollected. “I think when I came here my freshman year, I don’t know what it was but I just knew when I decided to come here that it was going to be good and everything was going to be awesome and that we would go to nationals.
I remember at one point my mom was like, ‘this team has gone to nationals this many times and this team has gone to nationals this many times,’ and I was like, oh we’re going to go. I’m going to the U, it’s going to be awesome. I don’t know exactly what it was, I just knew it was going to be good.”
Unlike the words of Biggie Smalls, it was not all a dream for that Utah girl that grew up in Sandy as she gets ready to toe the line with some of the nation’s best. Jensen has accomplished many of her goals during her time at Utah but has plenty more ahead of her; starting with this Saturday as she competes in her third-consecutive NCAA Championships. A feat only matched by one other woman in the history of the program and she is a member of the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame.