In everything that she has done, whether it’s diving headfirst into a brand-new sport, advocating for patients in the hospital or classmates at Bucknell, or jumping into an ambulance to potentially save a life, Morgan Brill has shown a thirst for knowledge and self-betterment. And she’s just getting started.
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As Bucknell head rowing coach Steve Kish and head novice coach Kelly Harris construct a roster that annually contends for Patriot League medals, they typically search far and wide for future standouts. The Bison roster features rowers and coxswains from 11 different states and the District of Columbia, hailing from as far away as California, Florida, and Illinois. More recently, however, the program has found a rowing hotbed – albeit perhaps unknowingly – right here in its own backyard in Central Pennsylvania.
Bucknell’s robust novice program, under the direction of a full-time coach in Harris, annually welcomes first-time rowers, many of whom starred in other sports in high school, and develops them into varsity contributors. Both of the team’s 2024 All-Patriot League selections – then-seniors Abby Gerst and Haley Beardsley – had never rowed before coming to Bucknell, and four years later they stroked the Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight, respectively, at the league championships. Beardsley was an all-star softball player at Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh, and Gerst was a cross country/track and field standout at nearby Jersey Shore Area High School.
Draw a 30-mile radius around the Bucknell campus, and you will find all sorts of terrific high school athletes who go on to play in college. Field hockey, soccer, softball, and track are the most prominent girls’ sports in the area, but none of the local public schools have formal varsity rowing programs. So it is remarkable that Bucknell’s Varsity Eight – the team’s top boat, which can accrue the most points at the Patriot League and NCAA Championships – features three juniors who all graduated from Southern Columbia High School right around the corner in Elysburg.
Two of the three, Morgan Brill and Colby Bernhard, helped lead Southern Columbia to three straight PIAA state championships in soccer. Bernhard also played on a state runner-up basketball team. The third member of the “Southern Columbia Posse”, coxswain Hattie Hopper, played softball for the Tigers. The Bison also feature another local former novice in Line Mountain graduate Hannah Ruohoniemi. All four are excelling academically while majoring in biology (Brill, Hopper), biochemistry (Bernhard), and biomedical engineering (Ruohoniemi).
For Morgan, the journey from Coal Region soccer star to a mainstay in the bow seat of the Varsity Eight has been about more than just athletics. She is a Dean’s List student on a pre-med track, she is a certified emergency medical technician with Americus Hose Company in Sunbury, and she has worked as a patient care technician in the same-day surgery department at Geisinger hospital.
Morgan was born in Lewisburg and grew up in Elysburg, a small town of about 2,500 residents best known as the home of Knoebels Amusement Resort. She was introduced to sports at a young age through AYSO soccer, and by the time she got to high school she knew she wanted to play for the renowned Southern Columbia soccer team. The Tigers had won the state championship in 2018, and then they went on to win three more PIAA crowns in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Morgan did not plan to play soccer in college, instead casting a wide net in her search. Ultimately, she ended up only about 25 miles from home.
“I actually never thought I would end up so close to home,” she admits. “I applied very broadly to a lot of different colleges and ended up coming to Bucknell. My aunt and uncle both went here, and of course they’re biased, but they told me I should check out Bucknell. I’m so glad that I did.”
Like many incoming first-years, Morgan was looking for some extracurricular activities, and that’s when the “Learn to Row” email from Harris hit her inbox in the week leading up to the start of classes. She pulled together her lifelong friends Colby and Hattie, who had also picked Bucknell, and the three of them decided to give it a shot.
“We didn’t come to Bucknell as a package deal or anything like that. It just kind of worked out like that. Colby has been my best friend since the first grade, but we never planned to go to the same college, and we certainly never thought we’d be rowing together.”
Morgan says that while she had been on boats recreationally, she had never set foot in an actual racing shell.
“I remember when I was little, seeing the boats out on the water when we would cross the Susquehanna River bridge, but I never imagined that I would do something like that. On the first day, Coach Harris just showed us around the boathouse, and then we went to the erg room. She slowly introduced us to the sport and it wasn’t very competitive at first, but I liked it and stuck with it.”
Each year, the Bison head south for a winter training trip during the holiday break period. The novices can earn a spot by recording a certain time in a 30-minute erg test. Morgan already had plans and wouldn’t be able to go on the trip, but she took the test anyway to see how she matched up. That opportunity reignited her competitive drive.
“That was my first testing experience, and it was challenging to say the least. But it definitely sparked my love for training. Soccer training is just so much different than rowing, and it forced me to follow a specific training schedule. It was very rewarding because I could measure my progress and see how much I was improving.”
That newfound workout regimen helped give Morgan and Colby, and teammate Sierra Jordan, the strength and endurance to run the Half Sauer Half Kraut Marathon in Philadelphia last summer. The trio crossed the line together in second place in their age group. In addition to the training schedule, being on a college rowing team means early wakeup calls for practices on cold mornings on the Susquehanna, and long rides to weekend regattas. But as is the case for many student-athletes, that routine brings positive structure.
“I remember being so scared for the transition to college, and as a novice, wondering just how they do this sport and also balance exams and everything else. And then once I got into it, it made me so much more productive.”
By the spring of her freshman year, Morgan was a regular in the Third Varsity Eight. A year later, she moved into the Patriot League lineup for the first time with the 2V8, and now she has been a fixture in the bow of the 1V8 this spring. Colby sits one seat up, forming the bow pair with Morgan, and Hattie is at the stern setting the pace. Former novices Abaigeal Robertson and Kalena Gatesman have also moved up to the Varsity Eight.
Bucknell has enjoyed a strong spring season while attending some competitive regattas featuring strong fields. The V4 and 2V8 have captured Patriot League Boat of the Week honors, and last week the 1V8 performed very well against top competition at the Eastern Sprints in Worcester, Mass., beating Drexel in a thrilling photo finish in the Third Level Final. Now the squad is training hard for the May 16 Patriot League Championships, and Morgan likes the team’s chances.
“I think we have so much potential. The whole team was really competitive in our winter training, and we are excited for Patriot Leagues. Winning is definitely the goal, but something that we’ve been talking about all season is just being really internal, focusing on our boat and our speed and not comparing ourselves to other crews.”
In the meantime, Morgan is well on her way to a career in medicine, a path that was inspired by a health scare that her father Kenneth endured when she was young.
“I don’t have any family members who worked in medicine, but my dad had a brain tumor when I was in third grade. He’s since recovered, but he had to undergo two brain surgeries. It was really scary growing up and seeing that, but I was exposed to so many different medical professionals. I so badly wanted to understand what was going on. I would always ask questions, and they would be met with answers that I couldn’t comprehend.”
As a senior at Southern Columbia, Morgan did a cooperative education program at Geisinger, the renowned regional medical center in Danville. She went in for two hours before school started and worked as a medical assistant called a PCT, or patient care technician. She helped out the nurses with prepping patients for surgery, and she was even able to observe some surgeries. Morgan still works in this role at Geisinger as her schedule allows.
At the same time, Morgan also harbored a desire to work as an EMT. Finding time to take the in-person class was a challenge with her full-time studies at Bucknell, so she found a hybrid class near Philadelphia and completed the online coursework in the spring of her sophomore year. She then passed both a national certification test and a psychomotor exam, which is a practical assessment of specific field skills, such as CPR and medication administration.
Morgan passed her NREMT exam last summer and joined the Americus Hose Company in Sunbury as a certified EMT. While an extremely rewarding job, EMTs are exposed to some heavy life experiences as first responders. Morgan was working during Thanksgiving break last fall when she responded to a call where a young boy had found an unsecured gun in the house, and he accidentally shot his brother in the head. Fortunately, the child survived, but for Morgan it was an early lesson in controlling emotions and focusing on the task at hand.
“Our crew is great when it comes to that side of it. After a call like that, we go through everything that happened from a medical standpoint, but then we also check in on each other. They are very open about that, if there’s anyone you need to talk to, there are plenty of resources. My boyfriend is also an EMT, and just talking to my friends who are also interested in medicine is very helpful.”
A silver lining in the accident with the two boys is that Morgan got to experience flight medicine for the first time, as the young victim was flown out on the Geisinger Life Flight helicopter. Morgan later connected with one of the flight medics, and she was able to do a fly along with them last month. She has another one scheduled later in May.
Morgan is just wrapping up her junior year, but she has started to apply to medical schools. Her top choice is Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia, because that’s where her father had his surgery. She is also involved with the Bandana Project, a program where students can receive training and get certified in areas pertaining to mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
Albeit far less dire, the skillset required to excel within a nine-person crew in the repetitive rhythms of rowing is not unlike the mental focus needed to work with a team of first responders. Lock in on your specific job, and the team will be successful.
For Morgan Brill, whether it’s chasing a Patriot League medal next week or boarding the Life Flight helicopter for a life-saving call the week after, her journey is indeed just getting started.
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