As an athlete, there are countless things that can go through the mind while playing a sport. Sports are exhausting both mentally and physically. Sophomore Morgan Phillips chose West Virginia University to study sport and exercise psychology while wanting to compete with the highly successful Mountaineer Rifle team.
“I chose CPASS because rifle is a very mental sport and I thought sport [exercise] psychology was interesting. It’s really fascinating to learn more about sport psychology and be able to make connections between what I’m learning about in school and what I do athletically,” said Phillips.
The Salisbury, Maryland native started shooting at a young age, but found herself more involved as she got older and discovered a passion for it. While she was in high school, she had her sights set on WVU the entire time noting that the school and team had resources that attracted her.
As an Honors student, Phillips has been productive and victorious. As a freshman, Phillips was named as an NCAA Championships Top Performer Honoree, won the 2017 NCAA Smallbore Championship, finished second in air rifle at the 2017 NCAA Championships and has ranked in the Top 10 for numerous competitions.
“One of my favorite memories at WVU so far was winning the NCAA championship my freshman year. It was special to win NCAA’s my freshman year. It was a whirlwind year for me and getting to compete and shoot with my team at that match is something I’ll never forget,” recalled Phillips.
Phillips credits two of her mentors at WVU, her coach Jon Hammond and graduate assistant Soren Butler.
“I’ve been working with Morgan for two years now and I wouldn’t be able to list all her accomplishments during that time. She is an amazing shooter and an important piece of the Mountaineer team. Morgan’s most impressive trait, in my opinion, is her ability to focus on the process during matches,” said Butler.
Phillips hopes to continue competing and plans to work toward the goal of making an Olympic team.