EUGENE, Oregon—Few athletes in Northwestern State history have made nationals in each of his or her first two seasons with the program.

You can add long jumper Roy Morris to that short list after a tremendous performance at the NCAA East First Round.

After earning a Second Team All-American spot last season, Morris aims to become a Demons All-American as a sophomore after doing so as a freshman in an outdoor open event for the first time since Cody Fillinich in the javelin back in 2005 and 2006.

He competes on Wednesday at 8:40 p.m. at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. Fans can watch the long jump on ESPN+.

"It feels amazing to go back to nationals," Morris said. "I can't be more blessed than I am right now. It feels amazing to see the position God put me in. I can't ask for much more than that."

Last season, Morris made what many thought was a surprise appearance at nationals after a jump of 24-8 at regionals to finish ninth.

At the NCAA East First Round in 2025, Morris led after the first of two flights before a lengthy weather delay caused disruption and forced the second flight to not compete until late at night.

The competitor in Morris wanted to make a statement, knowing some thought he benefited from the delay last season.

"He's a competitor, through and through," assistant coach Alex Wills said. "When it comes to those pressure situations, he keeps a level head and that is something not every athlete can do. That is one of the things you can't really coach. They either have it or they don't. He can keep a level head in those pressure situations. We had a plan going into the competition and he stuck to it."

Despite making it to nationals, Morris and Wills knew there was more potential to untap. During the offseason, the two worked relentlessly to improve certain aspects of Morris' game, and once the training paid off, there was no stopping the sophomore from Greenwood.

This season, Morris went out to not only prove he could make it back to nationals but also prove to others that he deserved the spot not only this season, but last season as well, to outsiders.

"I really put the work in to advance to where I was last year," Morris said. "I know a lot of people doubted me and saying it was the weather delay, I just went out and proved that it wasn't the weather delay, but it was because of the work I put in."
Throughout his first season and a half with the Demons, Morris had the goal of jumping 25-0.

That happened in early April at the Pepsi Florida Relays, one of five times doing that in the next two months—all at pivotal points in the meet.

It was also at that time that Morris also showed off a new approach—one that helped earn him the gold medal at conference and then another nationals appearance.

"Last year, we worked on being technical and this year, the big thing we worked on was speed down the runway," Wills said. "We worked all fall on getting him quicker. I pushed him back so his approach was further out so we could build that speed even more. It took a while, as the Florida Relays were the first one we really got to try that new approach and it worked out well. We just kept building off that."

He did it again on his final jump in a pressure situation to win the gold medal at the conference championships—doing so by 0.01 meters—and then did it again on all three jumps at the NCAA East First Round in Kentucky.

His first jump went 7.66 meters, which was just shy of a personal best. That attempt would have finished 12^th and barely making nationals if he didn't make any more attempts.

Morris' second jump put any thought he might not make it to nationals to bed, as he recorded a personal best jump of 7.80 meters/25-7 feet to cement his spot in Oregon.

His jump that earned him a spot at nationals a season ago wouldn't have even put him inside the top 20 this time around.

Like he always does, he came through in the clutch.

"We knew about his potential this year and even last year," Wills said. "I've been telling coaches he's going to jump 7.70 or 7.80, so for him to come out and hit that exact mark was amazing. But not only that, all three of his jumps were over 25 feet and he had only done that twice previously during his career. For him to come out and hit that mark all three times just shows that he is really that type of competitor and we're ready to see what he can do at nationals."

Morris uses a calm, level-headed demeanor during his jumps, which has helped him achieve several of his goals. He aims to become one of the top eight long jumpers in the country to earn him a First Team All-American slot.

Morris has a chance to accomplish that impressive feat Wednesday night.