Valedictorian Katelyn Morgan Leads JMU in More Than Assists

Senior Katelyn Morgan leads No. 17 James Madison with 27 assists — eight shy of her team-best 35 assists from 2023. She is also tied for the James Madison lead in GPA — as in the whole university.

A few weeks ago, Morgan found out she had a 4.0 GPA and had, therefore, earned valedictorian status, an honor awarded to the student or students with the highest cumulative grade point average in their class, 100 or more hours of coursework at JMU and an average of 14 credit hours earned each regular semester of attendance. More than one student is named valedictorian when they have the same (highest) grade point average.

This year, Morgan is one of six valedictorians.

“I knew going in that was a possibility, but it wasn’t on my mind until I was made aware of it,” Morgan said. “It was exciting and gratifying.”

To be fair, Morgan has been busy putting a bow on her final season with the Dukes, who are poised to compete with Florida for an American Athletic Conference championship. (James Madison lost to the Gators 15-7 on April 13.) The valedictorian honor hasn’t added much to her to-do list, either. She won’t have to give a speech like a high school valedictorian, but she will attend a luncheon with her peers who also earned the distinction.

Morgan’s academic achievements come while balancing athletics and academics, which she’s done with grace and under unique pressures.

As a freshman in 2021, amid COVID-19 protocols like virtual learning, Morgan had to adjust to college life under once-in-a-generation circumstances. She rose to the occasion on and off the field, playing in all 17 games at attack for James Madison, being selected to the CAA All-Rookie team and earning the James Madison Athlete Award for highest GPA. Morgan may have made it look easy, but it was anything but.

“That year was one of the biggest struggles in college, especially in terms of procrastination with COVID and not having an in-person class schedule,” Morgan said. “It morphed my sense of time … It was a big learning curve.”

It helped that Morgan came in with credits for introductory classes all students must take courtesy of advanced placement classes. Her favorite AP class? Psychology. Morgan declared her major, general psychology, and dug into topics she was passionate about, motivating her to learn and stay on task.

“I like the broad scope of psychology,” Morgan said. “You can do a lot with psychology. It blends social sciences, natural sciences and math. The most enticing thing was the opportunities it held … It seemed like something that I was going to be passionate about.”

Morgan has since taken a particular interest in criminal law. She later chose criminal justice as her minor and has her sights set on law school.

“I was exposed to a lot of criminal procedure and law classes,” Morgan said. “Those were some of my favorite classes. Since psychology is the study of why people function the way they do, it pairs well with criminal justice — motives and crime and the way that we assess those things.”

Speaking of assessments, Morgan’s take on sophomore year without COVID restrictions? It was kind of, sort of a breeze (relatively speaking, of course).

“A silver lining of not having in-person classes was that in my first year of college, I was exposed to probably the most mentally challenging schedule,” Morgan said. “As a sophomore, I was returning to the run-of-the-mill in-person schedule.”

Run-of-the-mill is an understatement, but Morgan came in with plenty of practice as a standout athlete and student. She was an AP scholar and four-year letterwinner at Walton (Ga.) High School, where she racked up 427 points despite having her senior season shortened (but not canceled) due to COVID-19. She was also an AP Scholar and picked for the Walton High School Coca-Cola Award for most outstanding individual athletic and academic achievements. She came to JMU as a two-time USA Lacrosse All-American and was the No. 35 player in her class, according to Inside Lacrosse.

In short, Morgan had quite the brag sheet.

“I’m pretty academically focused — it’s always been a significant part of my life,” Morgan said. “My high school was competitive and prepared me well for college, but my parents never said, ‘You need to get these kinds of grades.’ They just wanted me to try my best.”

The pressure to strive for perfection came from within. Sometimes, at a cost.

“I’ve always valued academic validation, sometimes to a bit of an unhealthy extent,” Morgan said. “What’s important to remind myself is that even though I do value academics, it doesn’t define me. I am a student and an athlete, but I’m also a lot more than that. My entire existence is not predicated upon my academic or athletic success.”

Morgan didn’t come to this mindset shift alone. James Madison’s director of sports psychology, Robert Harmison, or “Dr. Bob,” as the student-athletes call him, has been a game-changer.

“He is able to help a lot of us work through our struggles with feeling unbearable amounts of pressure,” Morgan said.

Adding Kateri Linville as an associate head coach in the fall of Morgan’s sophomore year also helped her on and off the field.

“Kateri cares a lot about academics and places a high value on it,” Morgan said. “She recognizes the fact that if you can have a good work ethic in academics, it’ll translate to success on the field, and she does a good job bridging that gap within our team. She’s been a motivator for me in terms of maintaining a balance between athletics and academics.”

Balance, she has. Morgan has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons as a starter, earning a spot on the AAC second team last year as she helped the Dukes to a regular season crown in their first year the conference. She has 98 career assists, which ranks fifth in program history, and has been a JMU Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete each semester.

And while juggling academics and athletes is a balancing act, her work in the classroom has spilled out onto the field.

“Having resilience is one of the biggest things I’ve learned,” Morgan said. “I’ve also recognized that the work you put in can or will directly reflect the results. For example, if you aren’t performing the way you want on a test or in a class and intentionally study and put in more work, you will probably reap those benefits. The same can be said in lacrosse. If you’re not happy with how you’re playing, you can go out, get extra work, hit the wall and see the improvement down the road.”

Speaking of resilience, the Dukes are building it this year. That aforementioned 15-7 loss to Florida, coupled with one to the Gators in last year’s conference tournament title game? They both sting and aren’t far from their minds. Though they’re most focused on beating Old Dominion in their regular-season finale, Morgan and JMU are hoping for a second crack at Florida next weekend.

“We were thinking as a team about how last year we beat Florida in the regular season, and they probably sat on that loss and allowed it to motivate them and fuel their fire for the conference championship where they did beat us,” Morgan said. “I think it’s going to serve as some good fuel and fire for our team. We’re excited to hopefully meet them again. And then, onwards — we’re looking at NCAAs and want to make a deep run.”

After that, Morgan will hang up her jersey and slow her pace for the first time in a long time.

“I’m planning on taking a year between graduating from undergrad and applying to law school and taking an internship just because it’s been so high-octane for the last four years,” Morgan said. “It is draining to be an athlete, and a student-athlete at that, but I just want to take a year to explore my options, make sure that law school is what I want to do, and get some experience in the field before I start applying to school.”

But she’ll be taking lacrosse with her.

“I always say that the kind of interpersonal skills that I’ve gained from being a part of a larger program has helped me in school,” Morgan said. “It’s helped me create and foster relationships with professors and work well with other students in group settings.”

And she hopes to pay it forward.

“I’d love to continue being involved in lacrosse in Georgia,” Morgan said. “It’s grown a lot since I committed, and it has become much more common for girls to start coming into college from Georgia. It’d be cool to continue being connected to my high school or club program, helping grow the game in Georgia.”