EUGENE, Oregon — “Mama, I really made it.”
It didn’t hit Northwestern State jumper Roy Morris that he was among the finalists the long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships until the morning after he earned his berth two weeks ago with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville, Fla., and his phone rang from a familiar number.
“It really hit me when Mom called and said ‘You really made it’ and I told her ‘Mama, I really made it,” Morris said. “I always get told to keep following my dreams and I always follow my dreams.”
As a freshman from Greenwood and Evangel Christian, Morris is among 24 finalists in his event at storied Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
The long jump begins at 7:40 CDT. The championships are being televised on ESPN.
He is the second Northwestern freshman in three seasons to reach nationals, as Sanaria Butler made it in 2023 in the 400-meter dash in Austin, Texas.
He aims to give the Demons a first team All-American for the second consecutive season after Zachaeus Beard accomplished the feat last season in the 100-meter dash. The top eight in the field are first-team All-Americans, and finishers 9-16 earn second-team recognition. The remaining competitors, as long as they record a mark today, receive honorable mention status.
At the NCAA East regional, Morris used a jump of 24-8.25 to advance to nationals, his second best jump of the season.
“It was pretty awesome, and we were happy and excited after his jump,” jumps coach Alex Wills said. “I knew a 7.52m jump had gotten in the previous two years and he had a pretty good chance. We had to unfortunately wait a few hours to get that final result and I ended up staying and watching that second group go.
“I was on the phone with my wife, counting down the jumps, and when I finally realized he was going to make it in, that was huge. I knew he had a chance going in because he has been consistent all year. It’s awesome and we’re really excited to be going to Eugene.”
After the first group of 24 jumpers competed, Morris was at the top of the heap, but he had to wait a bit to celebrate since a lengthy rain delay caused the final 24 of 48 regional qualifiers to compete at night.
“I kept praying for the rain to keep delaying because I was worried,” Morris said. “When they started back up, I was panicking. I was just going through it and then kept seeing people scratching. I was in first and then kept going down, so I was getting nervous.
“But then, my coach called me and told me I was in. I just ran down the hallway of the hotel; I was so happy.”
Morris posted that jump in his final attempt of the meet, jumping from outside the top the five into the top spot, which stood up in his quest for nationals.
“I just had to calm down,” Morris said regarding his thought process going into his final jump. “I couldn’t get my hopes up too high. I just had to take it all in and pray and I asked God to please help me with my last jump.
“I felt great coming down the runway and going in the sky and I landed good.”
He stayed up to follow live stats of the final group, and watched as only eight passed him as he clinched one of the 12 spots going to nationals from the region.
“After the competition, I called him up because he was at the hotel,” Wills said. “I asked him ‘Are you ready to go to nationals?’ You could hear how happy and excited Roy was. I knew Coach Adam (Pennington) and Coach Mike (Heimerman) were swinging by his room to surprise him as well. It was a great feeling and I am happy to be able to share that moment with him.”
Morris is jumping at his best as the season winds down, as he has recorded two of his top three jumps — 24-8.25 at the NCAA East and 24-7.75 at the Southland Conference Championships — in his past two meets.
His top jump came in front of the home crowd, a leap of 24-11.25 at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational.
“For his age, being a freshman, he has been very consistent and very mature,” Wills said. “He just comes out every single practice and he really puts forth all the effort.
“One athlete who has helped him with the maturity has been (fellow jumper) Randy Kelly. Randy has been a leader to Roy and kind of a big brother to him. Randy has pushed him in the weight room and on the track, and I think having him there has also helped, especially having Randy at regionals there with him and Randy having been there multiple times before has helped as well.”
While he is headed off to the big stage, it did not start as well as Morris had hoped in the recruiting department.
Despite being one of the top jumpers in the state at ECA, it took a bit of time for him to be noticed by recruiters. When he got invited, he came to Natchitoches on a visit and his mind was made up.
“At first, I didn’t have any offers,” Morris said. “I just had to trust the process and then in the middle of the summer, McNeese hit me and then NSU came and got me in. It just felt like home here in Natchitoches. I came on my visit and it hit me that this is where I need to be, so I committed.”
For Morris, the place that feels just right for him this week is Eugene, as he aims to be the first non-sprinter on the men’s side to become an All-American since Emmanuel Williams — also in the long jump — in 2016.