Edmonds-Woodway senior ‘was made for the water’

Published 1:30 am Thursday, September 7, 2017

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When Morgan Broadhead’s shoulders ache, she’s reminded of what she’s put her body through during the past few years.

Broadhead, a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School, has swam year-round for the north King County-based Cascade Swim Club since she was 10 years old. She’s been a member of the Warriors’ girls swimming and diving team since her freshman year.

For the past three years, during the fall months Broadhead’s routine has revolved around “doubles” — practice with her school squad after school, immediately followed by club team training.

That’s a grueling schedule, no doubt; so grueling, in fact, that Broadhead at times has seriously considered scaling back. During the past several years she’s dealt with sore shoulder muscles, an ailment that she attributes to the fact that her joints simply aren’t strong enough to put up with the amount of stress that she puts on them.

“It’s a little chaotic,” she said. “I’ve weighed the pros and cons of swimming this much. Sometimes you just don’t want to go to practice. You like swimming, but you just don’t want to go. It gets hard. It was really hard (at the start of) last year. I got really tired, and you start burning out a little bit.”

But she’s been able to withstand the grind. She’s still swimming — and swimming well. Because, as Edmonds-Woodway coach Darrell Cray said, Broadhead “was made for the water.”

“(I’ve learned) how to push myself through it. I can certainly get myself to do things I don’t want to do, necessarily,” Broadhead said.

“When I think, ‘Do I want to continue (swimming) this much?’ one of the biggest things I consider is, ‘Do I want to leave (my friends) that I see all the time?’ It’d be sad to not see them. Also, I hear stories from the seniors before me; they tell me it gets hard, but it gets better. They say they really like college swimming and stuff like that. That kind of gets me through a little bit.”

A three-time 3A girls swimming and diving state meet participant, Broadhead earned her best finish at last year’s championships, placing fifth in the 100-yard freestyle event.

Later this fall, she’ll try to top that result. She’ll also try to improve in the 100 breaststroke; she placed 14th at last year’s state meet in that event. She’d like to break the school record in the 100 backstroke (she already has the record in the 100 free). And she’ll contribute to the Warriors’ 400 free relay team, which advanced to the state meet last year.

Cray said Broadhead is “one of the more natural swimmers” he’s ever seen.

“She’s got perfect technique,” he said. “When you add power and swim seamless like she can, that’s when you glide through the water. You’re basically flying through the water at that point. That’s what I notice when I see Morgan swimming.”

Broadhead hasn’t chosen a college yet and isn’t sure if she wants to continue her swimming career at the next level. She does know that she wants to study architecture and interior design, however.

“I’ve always really liked houses and drawing, things like that,” she said. “I used to go to open houses in our neighborhood — I’d say, ‘I want to see that house.’ I like decorating my room and designing things to decorate it. I’ve taken drafting for two years now at school, and I’ll be taking it for a third year; we basically design floor plans and houses in that class.”