Former UVU star Morgan Nokes raced her way to the Deseret News women’s half marathon title Friday with a 1:09:55 finish.
Nokes was followed by Grace Clements (1:10:34) and Elizabeth Chikotas (1:11:07), the latter of whom was last year’s half marathon winner.
“I don’t really know what my future holds with running,” said Nokes. “I’d like to run professionally, so I’m trying to get some good races in, some good times in that can eventually spark someone’s attention. Today was tough and fun.”
The win will help Nokes build up her résumé, as the field Friday was competitive like always.
Nokes wrapped up a nice career at UVU that included earning All-America honors in cross country her final season. She took some time off from running prior to that to give birth to her son, Theo. The bright-eyed 17-month-old was there Friday to cheer on his mom.
“I remember saying good night to him last night, and was like, ‘I’m going to run fast for you and I love you,’” Nokes said.
Run fast she did, as Nokes kept pace with the competitive field early on and then was able to move ahead around mile eight or nine, she thought.
“Elizabeth took it from the start. She’s a really powerful runner, and I just decided that I would go with her and honestly just try to hang on,” Nokes explained.
“I was feeling good and kind of kept trying to push as fast as I could and finish strong. This is my first half, and it’s obviously really hard.”
For Nokes, she’s exploring distances and races — along with finishing up a master’s degree in public administration this summer — and she’s not doing it alone as she has a big cheerleader in her corner in her husband, Joey.
Joey Nokes understands the running world as well as anyone, as he was a national champion runner with BYU’s cross country team.
“He’s a good motivator for me and a really good inspiration,” said Morgan Nokes. “I think he’s one of the reasons why I started to take running more seriously and really dive into my potential as a runner with what paces I could hit. I’m so grateful for him.”
Friday was not an easy race by any means for Nokes, but one that showed she can continue to find success as her career evolves.
“The course was a lot more downhill than I expected. My legs are kind of cooked just from that,” Nokes said. “But, honestly, it’s nice to have that a little bit, too. It’s kind of fun to start off at a little bit of a faster pace and kind of use that momentum to continue the race.”
For complete race results, click here.