Spirit Morgan is headed back to Eugene, Oregon, to compete in the high jump.

LEXINGTON, Ky – A month after Allen Johnson became director of track and field at North Carolina A&T, a lady approached him as he entered Truist Stadium during the AAU Track and Field Nationals in summer 2022.

She told him her daughter would attend A&T and asked whether she could join the team. Her daughter's name was Olivia Dowd. As he set about structuring a women's and men's track and field program, Johnson allowed her to join as a walk-on.

Dowd chose A&T despite Johnson being a first-time head coach, asking her to walk on, and the Aggies not yet having a jumps coach hired. It still all paid off. The conversation with Dowd's mother blossomed into Saturday night during the final day of the 2026 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round at Kentucky's Outdoor Track and Field Complex.

Last year, Dowd became the first female Aggie to qualify for NCAA nationals in the triple jump. Now, she returns for a repeat performance, joining senior teammate Spirit Morgan in Eugene, Oregon, June 10-13, at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Morgan qualified for NCAA nationals in the high jump for the second straight season.

"The great part is, she picked us," Johnson said of Dowd. "My first year, I coached almost everything and was stretched thin, but she showed great potential. I promised her I'd get a jumps coach."

Johnson fulfilled his promise in fall 2023 when he hired Aniis Hopkins. "They started working together, and she was just determined to get better and better," Johnson said. "If you ask her what her goal is, how far she wants to jump, her answer is always ‘whatever my body is going to allow me to do.’ When I look up a couple of years later, after she gets a jumps coach, she is an NCAA qualifier and an All-American. But that's been her attitude."

Morgan transferred from the University of Cincinnati. In two seasons at A&T, she's become the program's top high jumper in history. She aims to add to her A&T accomplishments after winning the CAA indoor title twice and the outdoor title once (she was injured in 2026). Morgan holds six of the program's seven best high jumps.

The NCAA outdoor nationals field is now set for the A&T men and women. As Dowd's career ends in Oregon, hopefully with a national triple jump title, Johnson is reminded: mother knows best.

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