'Truly grateful' Arianna Morais finally healthy, ready to charge into postseason

Javelin thrower Arianna Morais arrived at UTEP two seasons ago as a sophomore transfer with immense talent and potential but a history of injuries in one of the track events most prone to that.

That has made for a trying career, one with two elbow surgeries, loads of rehab and those flashes of talent that tantalized. What was going to happen when she was healthy and whole?

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"She has a lot more left," her coach Mika Laaksonen said 11 months ago. "Hopefully we'll get even further this year then bring her back next year."

Next year is here and that answer is arriving in time for Morais to write a beautiful ending to a story of tribulations.

The senior enters Friday's Conference USA javelin finals as the favorite to defend her title, a favorite to make it back to the national championships (she was 14th last year) and this year among the favorites to medal in Eugene, Ore. Her season's best of 187 feet, 10 inches ranks her third nationally.

"It's really mental," Morais said of her long trip to this point. "You have to keep working, stay on top of your rehab and not give up. It's been tough mentally, physically, trying to get back to where you were.

"I've been doing a lot better this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well throughout the competitions. I feel like I'm in good shape, hopefully it all comes together."

Said Laaksonen: "It's great. She's been in a very difficult situation for an extended period of time, I can only imagine how hard it has been. She's very competitive, she's talented, she's a strong young athlete."

Injuries aside Morais' journey to this point has been a long and interesting one. A native of Oslo, Norway born to parents from the African island nation of Cape Verde, she won a number of Norwegian age group national championships coming up through the ranks.

She came to America in 2021 to throw at the University of Florida for coach Steve Lemke, a former national team coach for Morais in Norway, a former UTEP coach who recruited Laaksonen to El Paso in 1992, and in 2021, an assistant at Florida.

Lemke retired after coaching her in 2021, when Morais was starting to deal with her injury issues, but did steer her to Laaksonen in El Paso.

"I didn't want to leave my coach but if I had to, I wanted to go to someone I trusted, and that was the one he trusted," Morais said. "That's what got me to take that step (to El Paso)."

Coming off Tommy John surgery, she didn't throw much in 2022, and in fact, her first javelin throw of that season was one attempt at the CUSA championships that earned her third. She then had a big throw at regionals to qualify for nationals, where she was 22nd.

Last year was about getting back in throwing form again, building up a base for this year.

"Being able to finally compete again, finally show some of my true potential, is always great," Morais said. "Seeing the work I put in is finally paying off. And people are really nice here, I've loved my time in El Paso."

She'd love to cap it with a title this weekend, then a medal in Eugene, but she's too grounded to look past the next throw.

"From where I stand right now it's realistic (to medal at nationals), but I try not to get ahead of myself," Morais said. "You have to go into competitions with no expectations. People are capable of many things so you have to go in focused and try to execute."

Beyond the next few months, she's out of eligibility after this season but wants to keep throwing. As she sees it, there is lost time to make up for.

"I lost a lot of years of competition, it took a toll on me," Morais said. "Being able to be out here, I feel truly grateful and looking forward to going out and competing every single time."

That continues Friday at Kidd Field.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Arianna Morais finally healthy, ready to charge into postseason