When North Carolina missed qualifying a team to regionals, senior Morgan Lane was one of five Tar Heels to qualify to regionals as an individual and was the only all-arounder. Lane qualified to the NCAA championships after posting a 39.325 and finishing as the top all-around competitor whose team did not qualify to nationals. 

Lane has a gorgeous beam routine highlighted by her unique press handspring into two layout stepouts at the top of the routine. She has not scored lower than a 9.800 on beam all season through 12 routines. The senior posted a season-high 9.950 twice—on Feb. 11 at Oklahoma and on March 17 vs Pittsburgh. 

Lane rotated with second-ranked LSU at regionals in Raleigh and will rotate with two-time defending national champion Oklahoma in the second semifinal session on April 20 in St. Louis. 

And with an all-around score of 39.325... senior Morgan Lane is off to St. Louis!!
✨ Congratulations Morgan! ✨ pic.twitter.com/wpdXxr0LvC

— Carolina Gymnastics (@uncgymnastics) April 7, 2018

FloGymnastics: What is your favorite event to perform on and why?

Morgan Lane: I would say it’s a tie between beam and floor, just because on floor there’s so much performance aspect to it. You can really get the crowd involved and it takes a lot of energy but it’s so much fun to feed off the energy of the crowd as well. For beam, it just takes so much focus. Being in the moment on the beam, nothing beats that. When you stick a dismount and finish a really good routine, nothing beats that feeling.

What is your favorite skill to perform on any event?

It would be my series on beam. Just because it takes so much focus and concentration to be able to do it. It’s the first skill in my beam routine so when I hit that, then I know that it’s going to be a good beam routine. It just sets up the rest of the routine.

What is the most challenging skill that you’ve learned and what made it challenging for you? 

Again, I would say it’s my series on beam because it is so mentally taxing. It takes a lot of concentration and if you’re a little bit off, you have to readjust in the middle of it. But also, it’s something that I used to be scared of so being able to overcome that fear and really embrace it is really cool.

What was the biggest takeaway from the regular season that you’ll look to use at nationals? 

I think just trusting what we’ve worked for. Preseason was really hard: we had two new coaches this year and they kicked our butts into shape to be honest. So just being able to trust that and know that throughout preseason, I just kept going. [I’m] just going into nationals with a lot of confidence and aiming to have fun and just trusting what we’ve done.

How do you bounce back from a fall?

Well, I’m hoping that’s not going to happen but you have to realize that you still have the rest of your routine left. Picturing it as a clean slate, you have nothing to lose after that so you can just go out there and go after it.

What was it like competing at regionals as an individual instead of with your team?

It’s really hard especially because you train with those people in the gym every single day and so you’re used to having them there and having them build you up and building them up. You’re missing that aspect of community and it just changes everything. Fortunately, I got to rotate with LSU, which was really cool. They made great surrogate teammates. But there’s nothing quite like being with your own team just because you’ve been through so much.

What was it like rotating with LSU during regionals?

It was really a neat experience. They were building me up and just really taking me in and making me feel like part of the team, which was really cool. They gave me the stick crown a couple times, which was neat. Just talking with the girls, they were genuinely really, really kind and caring. Even their fans that were commenting on the tweets that they were posting [were] just incredibly welcoming. Their comments made me so happy to read and just made me feel like I was really accepted.

Morgan Lane is officially a stick queen. Thanks for rotating with us, Morgan! ? pic.twitter.com/Qb6fXmBpwP

— LSU Gymnastics (@LSUgym) April 7, 2018

Are you looking forward to rotating with Oklahoma at nationals?

Yes, I am super pumped. That’s going to be literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience to rotate with the No. 1 team. That will be pretty cool. I’m hoping that their level of gymnastics will help me do my best and help me raise my level of gymnastics up a little bit. It’s going to be extra special because one of my coaches graduated from Oklahoma.

What has been the biggest challenge for you this season?

The biggest challenge has been coming to terms that this is my last season. I really wanted to accomplish all my goals and one of those big goals was making it to nationals. So especially over the last few weeks, it’s been really easy to stay motivated and focused because I wanted it so bad but then again I was trying to distance myself from the goals so I didn’t put a ton of pressure on myself. It just made it that much better that I did make it.

Ranked No. 4 on beam in EAGL here’s @uncgymnastics Morgan Lane ‼️ pic.twitter.com/IleBgXMEXv

— EAGL Gymnastics (@EAGL_Gymnastics) March 24, 2018

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Determined, happy, and motivated.

What are you most looking forward to about competing at nationals?

Honestly, it’s just been a goal of mine for as long as I can remember so I’m just super excited. It’s my last gymnastics meet ever so it’s a good last meet to have. I’m looking forward to going out there and having fun, doing my best and there really is no pressure at this point. It’s gonna be awesome.