University of Minnesota Athletics
Griak Hall of Fame Feature: Morgan Place
8/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
The University of Minnesota will celebrate the 30th annual Roy Griak Invitational as part of Homecoming festivities on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn.
As part of the celebration, Gopher Athletics has announced the formation of the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame with eight inductees slated to be honored in the inaugural class. As the Griak Invitational approaches, GopherSports.com will highlight each of the honorees starting today with Minnesota Duluth's Morgan Place.
Running long distances has long been considered a sport of relative solitude and anonymity. The anonymity for Morgan Place began to go by the wayside within weeks after her arrival on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth in the fall of 2008.
Place, a native of Ellsworth, Wis., charged onto the collegiate running scene. She won her first collegiate cross country race in 2008 when she captured the title at the UMD Invitational and added her second individual championship in as many outings by winning the St. Olaf Invitational.
Winning became commonplace for the young Place, she began to make history in just her third collegiate race by winning the Division II women's championship at the Roy Griak Invitational in just her third race as a collegian. By the time she was done, Place became the first athlete, male or female to win three straight titles at the prestigious meet.
The fresh-faced phenom won her first Griak championship in 2008 as she covered Les Bolstad course in a time of 22:16.1 and helped the Bulldogs to a fourth-place team finish with 161 points. It was the highest finish ever for UMD after a previous best finish of eighth in 1994.
Titles followed in each of the next two years for Place, who led the Bulldogs to the first of two-straight team titles. She clocked in at 21:55.3 to win the individual crown as a sophomore as UMD tallied 78 points to win the team championship and finish five points ahead of runner-up Manitoba. Teammates Rachel Stack (23:36.7) and Carrie Wardell (23:46.6) joined Place on the awards stand as all three finished among the top 20 at the 2009 Griak Invitational. Stack finished 16th overall, while Wardell placed 20th.
Place and the Bulldogs repeated in 2010 with Place winning for the third time in as many years by covering the course in 21:49.2 and UMD winning the team crown with 70 points. The University of Mary finished second in the team standings with 98 points. The only other Bulldog to place among the top 20 that season was Bridget Hines, who took sixth in 22:34.2.
It was also the third consecutive year that Place defeated Obsie Birru for the individual title as the Grand View standout finished as runner-up for the third-straight year.
Place's bid to win a fourth-straight Griak championship came up short in her final collegiate season as she placed 10th overall. Her time of 22:34.1 was nearly one minute behind Courtney Schall, who won in 21:38.7. Schall, who was running unattached, defeated Birru as Birru finished second for a fourth-straight season.
"My training had changed," Place explained of her 2011 finish. "I was going through some bodily changes and that changed my training, and I just trying to run through those changes."
But Place still has fond memories of the dominance she put on display at Les Bolstad Course in her four years as a Bulldog.
"It was a fun course," the soft-spoken Place said. "It was one of the toughest courses with so many hills … and that forced you to maintain your focus."
"(Place) was one of those truly special athletes," said Joanna Warmington, who coached Place in her final collegiate season. "She had a great ability to mask whatever pain she might have been having and get into that zone to compete on a consistent basis.
"She fulfilled every coach's dream," the UMD coach added in summing up Place's career at Duluth.
Warmington recalled trying to comfort her star after her bid for a fourth Griak title came up short.
"I told her that she was still that amazing person that a lot of people looked up to," Warmington said, "And it was true. Morgan Place is an extremely gifted athlete and one of those athletes who truly does come around once in a lifetime."
Place's name still litters the UMD record books in both cross country and track. She qualified for 11 of a possible 12 NCAA championship meets during her brilliant collegiate career. She advanced to the national cross country championship and outdoor track championship meets each of her four seasons and competed in three indoor national championships.
In cross country, she won 22 of the 35 races she competed in while wearing the Bulldog uniform, including the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship as both a freshman and sophomore, along with the Central Regional crown in her first season. Place owns the top three finishes ever recorded by a Bulldog at the national championship. After finishing seventh as a freshman, she placed sixth and fifth each of the next two years, respectively, to earn All-America accolades three times in cross country.
The school record holder by earning All-American honors eight times, Place was a three-time All-American in the 5,000 meters at the indoor national meet, highlighted by a fourth-place finish as a freshman. She was part of the school's distance medley relay team that finished third as well. Her other All-America finish came in the 10,000-meter run at the 2010 outdoor national championship.
The Bulldog great also captured a total of seven NSIC individual championships during her storied career and was selected as the conference's outdoor athlete of the year in 2010 after winning newcomer of the year awards in both indoor and outdoor track in 2009. The school's outstanding senior athlete of the year for 2011-12, Place left the school holding five school records.
Place graduated from UMD in 2012 with a degree in exercise science. She continued her education by enrolling in the echocardiography at the Mayo Clinic later that year and completing her education in May 2015. She is currently employed at the Mayo Clinic.
