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A gifted athlete who fell in love with vaulting at age 5, the biggest obstacle for Toone to get over in recent years was in her mind.
But with maturity comes clarity. Now the only hurdle she sees is the bar itself, meaning the sky is the limit for the newly invigorated junior.
Toone will take dead aim at the medal stand in the Class 5A girls pole vault when she competes for the first time in the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet at 3 p.m. Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
A much-heralded vaulter in the junior high ranks, Toone carried to high school the label of being the next in a long line of successful Belton vaulters.
But consecutive District 13-5A titles her freshman and sophomore years were followed both times by heartbreak at the Region II meet.
“I would freak myself out by saying, ‘This girl is here. She’s gone higher than me. What if she beats me? What if? What if?’” Toone said of her first two regional experiences. “When I think of those things when I’m jumping, I get nervous. And when I’m nervous, I can’t jump right.
“But I didn’t freak out this year. I was able to think about what I needed to do and how to handle myself.”
It made all the difference in the world.
Toone stared down defending regional champion Shelby Kennard of Rockwall and cleared 12 feet on her second attempt en route to Region II gold and her first state ticket.
The biggest difference this year was in her mind.
“That’s been the biggest thing I’ve had to overcome,” Toone said. “I do the same before big tests. But in the classroom, I can study as much as I can and that helps. Then I’m sure I know the stuff.
“But out here, you can run and work as much as you want, but it doesn’t make you less nervous.”
And Toone and has been running and working for a long time.
Her first experience with vaulting came at an early age.
“When I was about 5, I found a broomstick,” she recalled. “I liked to turn it upside down and kind of pole vault around the yard.
“But I didn’t know it was a sport. Once I found out that it was, I knew I wanted to do that when I got to seventh grade.”
So she did. And for the most part she’s been on the rise ever since, learning all of the intricate details of the sport along the way.
“Before I start my run, I try to picture the jump,” she said. “I think, ‘OK this certain thing is what I always do wrong, so let me make sure I do it right.’ Then when I start running, all I think about is planting right.”
A less-cluttered mind has made for a breakout season in which she has gone as high as 12 feet, 6 inches.
“I’ve surprised even myself,” Toone said. “I was expecting to be jumping 11 or 11-6 just like I had been the last couple of years.
“Then I was injured some and I just didn’t think I would be very good. It turned out to be just the opposite. I guess I tried harder.”
And maybe that was the key all along - finding a way to try harder without the fear of failure.
“In eighth grade, I was like the hot shot. I was the best eighth-grader around,” Toone said. “I kind of slacked off, thinking it would always be that way, even in high school.
“It wasn’t. I wish I would have worked harder earlier, so that’s what I’m doing now."
And that in a nutshell is the maturation of Morgan Toone, who is now one of the state’s best vaulters - even in her own mind.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com