Lakeside's Morgan Merriman is Seattle Times girls athlete of the year

Her family called it the Turkey Bowl. To find out where the competitive streak in Morgan Merriman was forged, this is a good start.

The Turkey Bowl was a no-pads, no-holds-barred barefoot football game the family played each Thanksgiving, and it was no joke. The games were relentless. Arguments were common. Everyone left with their share of bruises. And everyone was a great athlete. Merriman's dad, former Seahawk Sam Merriman, and her uncle had each played in the NFL, and most of the branches on the family tree led to college athletes.

"So when you come to the Turkey Bowl, you come to play," her mother, Kirsty Ellison, said.

From the backyard family games to the courts and fields of the Metro League, the competitiveness Morgan Merriman learned growing up translated into a dominating senior season. She was the league's volleyball co-player of the year, a first-team all-league basketball selection, an all-state lacrosse player and is The Seattle Times' girls athlete of the year.

"She's a tremendously gifted athlete, but then she's versatile and obviously a quick study," said Sandy Schneider, Merriman's basketball coach at Lakeside.

Even when she was a freshman at Lakeside four years ago, Merriman was an intimidating athlete at 5 feet 10. She had no doubt then she wanted to play a different sport each season.

"I find I get burned out if I only do one sport for too long," she said.

She started in basketball and lacrosse as a freshman, learning as she went. She came the longest way in volleyball, which she began as a sophomore after a brief venture into soccer.

"I could always hit pretty hard; it was can I keep it in the court?" Merriman said. "So sophomore year was the experimental year."

When she refined that power, she developed into one of the state's most feared hitters. Just about every hit turned into a kill.

"Nobody could shut her down," Lakeside volleyball coach Robyn Filimaua said. "She basically was our go-to player."

When the winter season began, her transition to basketball took mere hours, Schneider said. Schneider said that it had helped that Merriman stuck to a three-day-a-week workout regimen all year.

"Why she's probably the most powerful, strongest athlete is that she earned it," Schneider said. "She's dedicated."

On a relatively young basketball team, Merriman was a four-year starter. Even though she will likely play on the perimeter in college at Sacred Heart, she willingly played out of position at forward. She still averaged 10.7 points and led the Lions to a fourth-place finish in the Class 3A state tournament. The long postseason allowed no breaks before Merriman began lacrosse practice.

"I never have an offseason, technically," she said.

Merriman had never played lacrosse until her freshman year at Lakeside, where her athletic ability helped her start immediately. Her freshman year, she said, was the trial year. The Lions won the Division I championship that year, starting a four-year title run that coincided with Merriman becoming a force as a midfielder.

In her senior season, she was selected as an all-state midfielder after scoring 37 goals and adding 14 assists. She had three goals and an assist to help Lakeside beat Bainbridge 14-13 in double overtime for the championship on May 16 — Merriman's 18th birthday.

"I've never been so nervous going into a game," Merriman said. "It was the perfect ending, my last game at Lakeside, and it could not have ended better."

Tom Wyrwich: 206-515-5653