more on SARIE MORRISON

TELL ME A LITTLE MORE ABOUT YOUR COACH, ADDI.

She is amazing. She’s more than a coach; she’s like my best friend. She knows your strengths and weaknesses, and your dream is her dream. She is also a gymnast who competed at Auburn University and then at George Washington University.

WHATSCHOOL DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?

LSU. When I started thinking about schools, my dad and brother, huge LSU fans, were going [to Louisiana] for the LSU-Alabama game, and I called to see if I could come for a visit. They were very happy to have me, and said they’d been scouting me since eighth grade. When I toured the campus, I just loved it. I committed to LSU my junior year — they offered me a full scholarship and signed with them this year.

HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO BE A NORMAL KID SINCE YOU GOT BACK INTO GYMNASTICS?

More than I used to. At Spring Creek I was in a class with four other kids. It’s not that way at LHHS! I have way more friends now. I still have to sprint from school to the gym everyday, then go home and do my homework and studying and then go to bed exhausted every weekday, but I don’t have practice on the weekends, so I actually have a social life.

WHAT ABOUT FUTURE ASPIRATIONS? WILL WESEE YOU ATTHE NEXT OLYMPICS?

It’s not out of the question, but the first thing I will focus on will be college.

BESIDES YOUR COACH, WHO HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATION?

Of course my parents. They have been with me all along the way and have encouraged me to go for my biggest dreams. Beside Addi, my club coaches have also been great. And my teammates at the gym.

HOW DID IT FEEL TO HAVE SUCH GREAT SUCCESSWITHTHE HIGHSCHOOL TEAM?

It was just the greatest experience. We knew that with me, Hannah and Kristen [DeCosta] we could do it, but the feeling it was great. Just a great accomplishment.

—CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

READ MORE about Sarie Morrison (and other LHHS athletes) on the advocatemag.com Lake Highlands Sports Blog, updated daily.

(214) 670-9989 www.deanmalone.com

Artist In Restaurant

If Burger Spot has a flaw, it’s lack of seating. Since it opened last November, it has attracted droves of carnivorous Lake Highlands dwellers with its tasty burgers, salty fries and those addictive fried jalapeños (those and the black bean burgers have us hooked). But it’s not just the comfortingly familiar foods that make people feel at home here — the ambience (namely, a mural that covers the south wall nearly in its entirety) seals the deal. White Rock area artist Casey Parrot, brother to owner John Harris’s daughter-in-law, painted the piece, which “moves” from Principal Office in Dallas morning to evening in scenes that include downtown Dallas, Flag Pole Hill and Wildcat-Ram Stadium, to name a few. “I took some photos of the sites and started with sketches, and then it just sort of evolved and became my own,” he says. Harris made a few suggestions concerning what to include in the mural, but Parrot has a good feel for the subject matter. He went to an arts magnet school, not LHHS, but says he spent a week at the football stadium during the Dallas Cup soccer tournament when he was young. “I also spent an afternoon at Flag Pole Hill to get a good feel for that before I painted it ... and I went to high school in downtown Dallas, so I know that area well, too.”

—CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB