Running wasn’t always Justin Morgan’s favorite thing, but he sure is a big wheel in the sport now.

A valedictorian-winning graduate student and cross country/track athlete at Montana Tech, Morgan recently won 13th place at the NAIA Nationals Cross Country race at Apalachee Regional Park November 13 in Tallahassee, Fla., to earn All-American honors a second time in his career, completing the 8K course in 24:43.4.

This on the heels of winning the individual Frontier Conference championship, the first time an Oredigger harrier has ever won the conference title, in a time of 24:47.8 in Billings back on November 7.

A 2021 TFHS graduate, Justin also earned All-American cross-country honors following the 2023 college season when he finished 33rd at the Nationals meet.

Justin’s mother Jodi, who along with husband Shawn raised Justin in Thompson Falls, said their son didn’t always appreciate the sport of running all that much. “When he first started running in sixth grade, it was not his favorite thing to do,” she said, “but he stuck with it and became better.”

Indeed, by the time Justin was a senior at TFHS in fact, he was so much better that he was challenging for State B running titles, winning second place in the 2020 State B cross country meet and second place again in the 3200 meters at the 2021 State B track and field meet.

Justin also greatly enjoyed playing basketball back in his younger days and did so all four years in high school, playing a key role in helping the Blue Hawks to a fourth-place finish in 2021 State B tournament but, by that time, competitive running had won out and become his true passion. Upon graduation from TFHS, he took that passion to Butte and the Montana Tech cross country and track programs in college.

Morgan graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering last spring as one of the Montana Tech valedictorians. Planning from the beginning to eventually get his master's degree in electrical engineering at Tech, he knew that program

would require five years and had planned to take a red shirt year along the way with his running. Various ankle and foot injuries forced his hand early, sidelining him through the 2024 indoor and outdoor track seasons, the 2024 cross country season and the 2025 indoor and outdoor track seasons.

After the 2023 national meet where he first finished All American, Morgan suffered a partial plantar fascia tear in his left foot. In the fall of 2024, he developed left Achilles tendinopathy, and then right Achilles tendinopathy in the winter of 2025.

To top it all off painfully, Justin suffered a stress fracture in his left fibula last spring before finally being able to recover fully and doing the best running of his life this fall. Justin utilized biking and other low impact training methods, including the use of Jodi’s loaned Peloton machine in his home in Butte, to aid in his recovery. There’s obviously a lot of desire and determination involved to reach this high level in any sport, two things Justin seems to have plenty of for running.

Jodi said that Justin is currently continuing his master's studies at Tech and is still training, hopeful for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons.

Maybe we have not quite heard the last of the fast times from this once-reluctant runner who now lives to run and just seems to keep getting better at it all the time.

    WINNING SMILE – Justin Morgan relaxes after claiming the Frontier Conference cross country individual championship in Billings November 7. Justin went on to earn All-American honors a second time by winning 13th place in the NAIA national cross country championships in Florida November 13. (photo courtesy of Jodi Morgan)