TAMPA, Fla. -- Morgan Tankersley is ranked the number one, high school female swimmer in the country.
“It’s really crazy,” said Tankersley. “It’s something that [freshman me] never really thought would happen.”
Not only is the 18-year-old accomplished so much since she started swimming at the age of eight, but the Plant High School senior has overcome a lot to get to this point.
“I was originally diagnosed with asthma and I tried a bunch of different inhalers and nothing was working,” said Tankersley. “I went to a specialist and they diagnosed me with vocal cord dysfunction, or VCD.”
Simply put, it’s a restriction of the airway. It’s hard enough to deal with on land, let along breathing underwater.
The good news though, with therapy, Tankersley has been getting much better.
“I didn’t want to use it as an excuse as to why I couldn’t do something,” said Tankersley. “Even if my times weren’t there, I knew that I could still put it in the training and the work.”
Interesting here, her coach and her teammates credit her with making them better, but with humility, Tankersley says it has been nothing but a team effort.
Tankersley plans to go to Stanford University next fall and major in pre-medicine.
