Colleen Quigley is an Olympic middle-distance runner who placed 8th in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2016 Rio games. An NCAA All-American and national champion at Florida State, Quigley spoke with JWS about what she’s learned in quarantine and how she’s getting ready for next summer’s Olympics. 

What’s your current training routine and how has it been affected by the pandemic?

Luckily, I’m in a sport where the majority of my training is done outside, and running is one of the most safe things that you can do during the pandemic. So that’s pretty awesome that we don’t have to go to a gym. We’re not worried about coming in contact with other people. The majority of my training I can do outside, and so it hasn’t really changed. The gym part has to be tweaked a bit, in terms of weight training and strength training stuff. I can’t really do that in the way that we’re used to. So just like everyone else, I’ve pivoted to the living room workout and just making the home gym work. It actually hasn’t been too bad. It definitely gets a little bit old, but not too bad. I will say, too, I really am leaning more than ever on my at home recovery tools, like my Hyperice and my NormaTec, for when I can’t go in for treatment or get a massage.

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Are you on schedule for Tokyo next summer?

With track, it’s kind of interesting. The track and field Olympic team trials are not until July, so we have some time to train, and then it’s a one week process of a prelim and then a final. It comes down to one race deciding your fate. It’s crazy, but that’s how they do it. Every four years, there’s an opportunity to show up as fit and ready as you can and try to earn your spot on the team. It seems like it’s far away right now, but I know it’s going to be here soon.

How do you handle the pressure of going into a race like that?

It’s a lot. Every race that I enter there’s always something on the line. There’s always a team to make or a medal to earn, or an opportunity to get a record, or earn a bonus, or whatever it is. I think the last couple of years, a big part of my preparedness has come from working with a mental coach or a sports psych, however you want to call it. That has been a huge help to me. I realized that I work so much on my body, that it would be a shame to get in the best shape of my life and then show up on race day and let the nerves overpower me so that I can’t even use all this work that I’ve put in. And it’s helped me get over some of the stereotypes, like, if you see a sports psych, that means that you’re weak, or that you have issues. I realized there were lots of gains I could be making, and I really want to end my career realizing that there’s no stone unturned.

I think that’s what really helped me get to the starting line feeling excited for the challenge ahead, instead of overcome with nerves and fear. I really recommend that to any athlete who feels like they’re struggling with the pressure. There’s people that can help you. And they really do a good job.

How will the next 6 months differ from your run up to the 2016 games? Are there fewer races and competitions?

I think you have to go with the flow as we’re going through the waves of this pandemic. And right now, we’re in an uptick and everyone’s kind of shutting down again because cases are rising, and hospitalization and deaths are rising. So everyone’s kind of going back into super careful mode, which probably is going to mean no races for a while. We don’t really know at all what the schedule looks like this time around. We’re going to have to be more flexible and open to not having a plan or knowing that we have a plan, but it’s probably going to change, and being okay with that.

If a race opportunity comes up, you gotta take it. And if that opportunity goes away, then you just keep training. Everyone’s in the same boat, everyone’s just trying to stay safe and stay healthy and get to the starting line. So there will definitely be a lot more unknowns this time around, but that could just give everyone a bigger sense of gratitude when they do get to race. We have to make it count.

What have been some habits that you’ve had that have helped keep you sane during quarantine?

I don’t know it’s anything revolutionary, but what works for me is just getting a good routine going. Feeling like you don’t wake up in the morning going, “Oh, what am I going to do?” Just being like, okay, I wake up, make coffee, walk the dog, and then come back, have a little light breakfast, do my pre-run routine, go for my run and come back, do my strength routine, Pilates, whatever. Maybe have a snack or maybe it’s just already lunchtime. And then I go into my afternoon stuff, maybe have interviews or just check emails, work on projects I’m doing, make a video, work on my Instagram. And then like, okay, 4:00, I’m going to hop on the bike. Maybe I have PT in the afternoon or whatever, and then make dinner and go to bed.

I feel like just getting a routine and feeling comfortable in that routine helps you feel less lost or like you’re being tossed in the wind. You just have to get a really good rhythm going that makes you feel less  scattered.

What are some other projects or hobbies you’ve been able to spend more time on?

I feel like I’m always behind on a million things that I owe people or things that I’d like to do. I have an idea and I write it down and then it may or may not get done three months later. I feel like there’s always so many cool opportunities and I definitely have a lot of interests. One thing I’ll shout out is a company I’ve gotten involved with called Voice in Sport, or VIS for short. Stefanie Strack, the founder, used to work at Nike, and she contacted me about their podcast. So I got in a podcast and we had an hour and a half conversation. Everything that she’s doing with VIS for young girls is so cool and unique. She’s taken the time to develop this really awesome platform and the backend stuff is really at a high level. I became a mentor with them and I just started this month, working with a group as well as some one-on-one meetings. I’m new to the community, but I’m really excited to be a part of it and to give these young girls the resources they need to feel supported.

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You chose running over a modeling career, saying you just couldn’t quit the sport. Has quarantine strengthened or altered that conviction?

Oh gosh. It’s one of those things where I think that, it was definitely a big decision at the time. It was kind of a crossroads in my life when I was 18 years old. I graduated high school and was given these two, honestly, really good options for the next steps in my life. I could move to New York and sign with an agency that was really excited to represent me and make a bunch of money and maybe become famous. And that seemed great. I love New York city. Or, I could take the scholarship and go to school for free and be a D1 athlete and have a chance at winning a national title. And that was also a good option. I could have gone either way, but I knew within a few months of being on campus at Florida State that I had made the right decision. I haven’t looked back since, and I can’t imagine not going down the road that I did. It’s led me to meet so many incredible people and given me the chance to make an impact on young girls and on a lot of people I’ve never met in a way that I just don’t think modeling would have offered me

Anything else that you wanted to add? 

I’ve been slacking on a few Instagram accounts that I run, my dog’s, my own, and then an account called Fast Braid Friday, but that last one is all about braids and hair and how doing something as simple as putting a braid or two in your hair before you go out for a hard workout or a race or into an important business meeting can make you feel more confident. It can make you feel like you’ve got your shoulders back and your head up and you’re ready to take on that challenge, whatever that might be. And so every week I post about my fast braids, with the idea that braids make you feel fast, on my own social media using #FastBraidFriday. And then I try to keep up with the Fast Braid Friday Instagram account as well, but I need to get back on that. That’s one of those things that’s fallen on the to-do list. I’ll also repost other people’s photos and share their stories. It’s become a community built around hair and braids, which is really fun.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman is defending the league's salary cap, addressing growing concerns about player retention this week — just days before soon-to-be free agent Trinity Rodman takes the San Jose pitch for Saturday's 2025 Championship match.

"We want Trinity in the NWSL, and we will fight for her," said Berman about the Washington Spirit star, responding to a report in The Athletic claiming that competing US top-flight outfit Gainbridge Super League has offered Rodman a contract surpassing the NWSL's current salary cap limitations.

"She is representative, or a proxy, of our broader point, which is that we want top players to play here, and we believe that we are already doing that and can continue to attract those players," Berman added.

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The NWSL's hard salary cap approach has come under fire amid recent high-profile departures of US talents like now-Chelsea FC teammates Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson, but Berman insists that the mechanism remains crucial to the league's parity.

"There are teams in other leagues that could compete in our league, but there are no leagues that could compete with our league," she explained, emphasizing the unique position the NWSL holds in the global soccer landscape.

"Compensation is not the only thing that players consider when deciding where to play," she continued. "We look at a whole host of factors, on the basis of the conversations that we have with players from our league and from players around the world."

The NWSL also confirmed Berman's multi-year contract extension this week, with executive committee chair Carolyn Tisch Blodgett saying in a statement that "[Berman's] vision for sustainable growth, along with her ability to fuel enduring momentum, has positioned the league for long-term success."

The soccer season's biggest showdown has finally arrived, as the No. 2 Washington Spirit and No. 8 Gotham FC take the pitch for Saturday's 2025 NWSL Championship match in San Jose.

Both teams enter the final steeped in postseason experience, with the Spirit winning their first title in 2021 before falling just short of a second in 2024, while Gotham lifted their first trophy in 2023.

"It feels like another NWSL game — we have competitive people on both sides," Gotham forward Midge Purce told JWS this week. "And it's fun. Stakes are high."

Despite entering as the postseason's No. 8 seed, Gotham insists they're far from underdogs, while the Spirit also view Saturday's matchup as a heavyweight bout.

"Both teams, we have different players but a similar idea — we all want to be protagonists," said Washington manager Adrián González. "Both teams want to win the ball as quick as possible. We love pressing high. I think it's going to be a good game for the fans."

"It's two teams that are very good tactically, two teams that are going to study how to counterpart each other," agreed Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós. "Then it's going to be those moments of brilliance — it could be set pieces — certain moments where players take responsibility."

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How to watch the 2025 NWSL Championship

The 2025 NWSL season comes down to Saturday's final between No. 8 Gotham FC and the No. 2 Washington Spirit.

This year's championship match kicks off from San Jose at 8 PM ET, with live coverage airing on CBS.

Gotham FC's Emily Sonnett would like everyone to know that her longtime teammate and close friend Rose Lavelle is a very good defender.

"Cannot forget that," she told Just Women's Sports at Thursday's NWSL Championship Media Day. "Gotta write about that."

A World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist with the US women's national team, the respect that Lavelle almost instantly garners from the opposition creates significant space for her Gotham teammates. And since joining the team in 2024, she's taken well to the club's high-pressing, quick-transition style. 

"She takes up a lot of attention," said Sonnett. "The way that she leads silently on the field, like a ghost — you don't know when she's going to get [the ball] and do something brave, and then, bam, she's there."

Gotham teammates spotlight Lavelle’s two-way brilliance

Lavelle has been a constant during Gotham’s unlikely championship run, both a locker room leader and a Fellow Gotham and USWNT star Midge Purce would also like everyone to know about Lavelle's prowess on both sides of the ball.

"It's hard to describe when you play with someone who's that good, it's just special," she said. "She can do special things on and off the ball — something she doesn't get a ton of credit for."

She's such a force, in fact, that Purce wasn't aware of the one achievement that's eluded Lavelle throughout her illustrious career — winning an NWSL title.

"Rosie, I didn't realize!" Purce exclaimed upon learning she's never won a league championship — despite being on the Gotham squad that took down Lavelle's Seattle (née OL) Reign in the 2023 NWSL Final. "She deserves the world."

From Breakers to Gotham: Rose Lavelle's winding NWSL journey

Lavelle needs little introduction to a soccer audience. A perennial winner on the international stage and a midfield maestro with the ball at her feet, the 30-year-old is a fixture of the global women's game. But her NWSL career has been a bit more nuanced. 

A Wisconsin standout with serious USWNT interest right out of college, Lavelle signed her first professional contract with the now-defunct Boston Breakers in 2018, entering a league almost unrecognizable to today's thriving NWSL ecosystem.

Boston folded the following year, sending Lavelle to Washington during a dark competitive period for the Spirit. She was later somewhat unceremoniously traded to Seattle in 2021, while playing overseas with the WSL's Manchester City. That Reign team went on to fall to none other than Gotham FC in the 2023 NWSL Championship — with Lavelle scoring Seattle's only goal.

In 2024, Lavelle got to make her own choices. She jumped ship, signing with the NY/NJ club that so silenced Seattle the previous season as part of a flashy free agency class.

How Lavelle battled injury and reclaimed her NWSL influence

Regardless of tonight's outcome, Lavelle's greatest triumph this season might simply be taking the pitch for a full 90 minutes. The 30-year-old has struggled with injuries throughout her professional career, but bouncing back from offseason ankle surgery was especially taxing. Her prolonged recovery impacted her ability to make a difference on the field, as she watched Gotham's form waver early in 2025.

"It was a pretty big surgery," Lavelle said, acknowledging that she's had to adjust her role within the team to maintain a presence off the pitch.

So she found ways to stay involved. She shared opinions in team meetings, staying connected with teammates in order to forge a seamless transition once she could handle more significant playing time. 

"She supported me for the first half of the season, when she wasn't even on the field," said rookie midfielder Sarah Schupansky. "And she didn't only support me, she supported the whole team."

Lavelle admitted that even now she doesn't feel 100%. But she also has a veteran's perspective on the bigger picture. "I still have to give myself the grace of acknowledging that it's going to be an up and down journey," she said.

"Being able to play with Rose, obviously, with the national team, has been incredible," Sonnett remarked. "But seeing the way that she's been able to train in NWSL, seeing that grit — I know she's battled through injury. [But] being able to see her train, I learn a lot from her."

Chasing the one women's soccer trophy that’s eluded her

Having won all there is to win at the international level, Lavelle's legacy doesn't ride on a single title. But her teammates would love to help check off that particular box on behalf of their locker room leader.

"I adore playing with her, and I adore her off the field," said Purce. "I definitely want to see her lift that trophy — she's going to be just fantastic."

As for Lavelle herself, the game is the fun part. And raising a trophy at the end of 90 minutes is just a benefit of the greater goal.

"This is what you play for," said Lavelle.

"This season is so long and hard. But then you get to these moments and this is the fun part, win or go home. We're all just fighting for each other, amped up, playing every single day."

Star England defender Esme Morgan made an impression on her new Washington Spirit teammates even before she set foot on US soil — just by the sound of her voice.

"Looking at Es on social media before she came, I just thought her voice was so angelic," Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury told Just Women's Sports at NWSL Championship Media Day in San Jose. "Even the first weeks, I couldn't even focus on what she was saying — I'm like, 'I am in the presence of the Queen.'"

If the former Manchester City defender wasn't already the NWSL team's quintessential English international, she cemented her prowess after winning a European Championship with the Lionesses earlier this summer. Since joining the Spirit in 2024, the center back has become a player to watch on both sides of the Atlantic, after making a bet on herself by transferring to the notoriously fast-paced NWSL in search of greater responsibility on the pitch.

A die-hard NFL fan with a bubbly personality and loyal TikTok following, Morgan immediately took to life in the US. Her proper British accent belies a fierce competitor on the field. She's a force in the locker room, fusing social connections that greatly contributed to the Spirit reaching a second straight NWSL final. And she's also good for more than a little bit of banter.

"Es is just super entertaining, she's really good at getting under my skin," added Kingsbury with a laugh. "She brings… a lot of sunshine to the locker room, and obviously is just a fun person to play with." 

But it's not all puppies and rainbows. Ceding last year's championship to the Orlando Pride still stings for Morgan. And she's turned that pain into intensity — one that's fueled her and her teammates all the way back to the precipice of NWSL glory.

How Esme Morgan energized Washington Spirit’s team culture

Washington's camaraderie is palpable, something midfielder Hal Hershfelt credits in part to Morgan's readiness to spend time with her teammates off the pitch, no matter the occasion.

"Honestly, she came to the team and we did a lot more team events and stuff like that," she said. "She's so extroverted, willing to get people together, get people grooving."

Morgan recalls a time early in the 2025 preseason, after Spirit captain Andi Sullivan announced she was pregnant with her first child ("the whole team had gone crazy," she remembered). A group of players had ridden their bikes to get ice cream, including recent signing Narumi Miura, who had only been in market for a few days.

"We were all just chatting about [Sullivan], and Rumi goes, 'I love this team!'" Morgan said. "She'd been here four days. We were like, 'Oh my gosh, Rumi, we love you too!' I think that speaks to the environment that we have."

The team's comfort with one another is also evident on the pitch, whether it's Morgan and midfielder Croix Bethune hitting Cam Ward's football celly in front of Audi Field's sold-out home crowd, or the trust permeating the defense as they confront ongoing injuries. 

"We definitely hold each other to high standards," said Kingsbury. "We all really want to win, and we all really want to do well for each other."

Esme Morgan bets on the NWSL to elevate her England career

Morgan arrived in the US on a mission.

She was named to England's World Cup squad in 2023, but spent the tournament on the bench, watching on as an unused substitute as the Lionesses finished second to Spain.

So when she got the opportunity to transfer to the NWSL the following year, proving her national team worth was front of mind. 

"She wanted to take a step forward, knowing that this league would challenge her," said Washington manager Adrián González. "I think she's done an amazing job, especially adapting herself to the type of games we have here."

The defender favors the NWSL's summer schedule, as it allows her to stay in shape for major international tournaments. And as she told JWS earlier this year, the US league's speedy, possession-oriented style has made her a better overall player. Morgan had always been good with the ball at her feet, but her time in Washington has significantly improved her off-ball positioning and ability to go toe-to-toe with the world's best attackers.

Her desire to improve only grew stronger after the Spirit fell short of last year's NWSL title. "That was something that at the time provided a huge fire inside me," she said. "I worked super hard in the off-season, doing things on the pitch that I knew would complement the areas of the game that I wanted to improve."

From Euros glory to NWSL grind: Esme Morgan returns to form

The work is paying off. She played a key role as a reserve center back in the Lionesses's successful UEFA Women's Euro defense this summer, replacing Gotham defender — and 2025 NWSL Championship opponent — Jess Carter in England's hard-fought semifinal victory over Italy. She went on to lift the trophy with her national team teammates, after avenging their World Cup loss against Spain in the European Championship final. 

Winning a major international title accomplished a childhood dream, but Morgan had to quickly re-orient herself after rejoining the Spirit in DC.

"Immediately after the Euros was when I felt the most tired. It was just like a come-down after that high," she reflected. "But I've since rallied and [felt] fresh and ready coming into the last couple of games."

How team love fuels the Washington Spirit's NWSL Championship quest

Heading into tonight's NWSL Championship, Morgan's focus on winning hasn't changed. But the source of her desire has shifted some, a full year after last year's disappointing exit. Washington faced adversity due to injury this season, in many ways mirroring their 2024 arc. But they've also continued to prioritize joy — on and off the pitch.

"We've overcome lots of challenges as a group, but stuck together throughout," Morgan said. "Now my passion and desire to win this weekend comes not from me losing out last year. It comes from the love I have for this group and the desire to win with these girls."

Another thing driving her? A victory tonight would put Morgan in rare company, completing her 2025 trophy case with both an international and league.

"I had the best time in the summer, achieved a lifelong goal. And ever since I've come to the Spirit, I've wanted to win the championship," she said. "It would be the perfect year, really."