Morgan Towe and Dajaé Goulet faced and overcame significant challenges to find themselves at a joint signing ceremony recently at Nansemond River High School.

The two senior Lady Warrior track and field standouts have accepted full athletic scholarships to run at the NCAA Division I level — Towe at the University of Richmond and Goulet at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“We’re talking about a kid who couldn’t walk and a kid we didn’t think was going to finish the season — now two full scholarship athletes,” Nansemond River track and field coach Justin Byron said. “What a difference a year makes for both of them.”

Towe transferred to Nansemond River for her senior year, having competed for Kempsville High School in the prior years. However, she was sidelined for much of her junior campaign when she suffered a hamstring injury.

“I couldn’t run for most of outdoor season,” she said.

Byron said, “This girl was on crutches, couldn’t walk, and I think when you get an athlete that has that type of adversity to come back and then still be able to get a full scholarship to an amazing school like Richmond, I mean, the only word I can think of is amazing.”

“It means everything,” Towe said. “It’s all I wanted, just to be able to see all my hard work turn into something this great.”

She noted she has had the goal of running in college “ever since I can remember.”

Towe got her start with track in fourth grade, competing in the Amateur Athletic Union.

It was her first year in high school that her dad, Andre Towe, helped put the process in motion that would lead to her college opportunity with the University of Richmond.

“I took her to the Richmond camp because Richmond was always on my radar,” he said. “That’s where they kind of knew her, so that’s why they followed her.”

Richmond tracked her progress even through her junior season.

Towe had a couple of other schools she was considering — Ohio State University and George Mason University — but the Richmond Spiders had the edge.

“I’ve known them for a while, I really got to know the coaches, and I really got to form a relationship with them,” Towe said.

Ultimately, Richmond was the only school offering her a full scholarship.

“She deserves it,” Andre Towe said of her signing. “She is definitely one of the hardest working kids I know, and it hasn’t stopped from day one. She’s been working hard. She’s been on time to practice, she’s been the last one here, she does whatever the coach tells her. She is an excellent kid.”

Byron said, “We always talk about these athletes or just people in general being able to fight back and overcome hurdles and adversity. To go from not being able to walk to now being a multiple time All-American and signing a full scholarship is the definition of perseverance.”

Morgan Towe, whose primary events include the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, plans to be a pre-med major with the intent of becoming a sports medicine physician.

Goulet, a sprinter and jumper, also has plans to go into the medical field, wanting to be a practitioner, though she will major in sociology to start with.

She expects to be a 100- and 200-meter dash runner for VCU, probably also doing the triple jump.

“Hers is one of my most fulfilling signings that I’ve been a part of,” Byron said.

Goulet transferred to Nansemond River before her junior year after spending her freshman and sophomore years at Churchland High School.

“I think the transition was tough,” Byron said. “Coming to Nansemond River, the training is demanding, and when she first started, she just wasn’t ready to meet those demands mentally, and then also probably physically. But every day she’s working and making those adjustments.”

Although it looked like she would not even remain with the team early on, she persevered “to being, again, a multiple-time All-American and a full scholarship collegiate athlete,” Byron said.

The journey informed her reaction to her signing.

“It’s real exciting to even have a full scholarship to go run, because at first, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get here, but having Coach B train me, I’m really blessed to be at this point.”

Her father, Richard Winfield, said, “It means a lot for her to get this opportunity to go to school like this and get a scholarship.”

It was the time period from her sophomore to her junior year when she really started liking track and started aiming for competing at the college-level.

Goulet considered schools including the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University, and Hampton University reached out to her, but VCU was offering a full athletic scholarship.

“I want to be a nurse, and they have a great medical program, and they’re one of the best, so that was just like a bonus, so that’s another reason why I chose VCU,” Goulet said.