Morgan Kull remembers a time she messed up a word while singing the National Anthem at a St. Charles East athletics event.
Kull, now a junior setter for the Auburn University volleyball team, had her long-awaited redemption on April 6.
This time, with millions of eyes on her.
Kull was one of four student-athletes who combined to sing the National Anthem prior to the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four matchup between Auburn and Virginia. Each representative was from a school competing in the final four teams.
"I was like, 'OK, now you've got this huge stage and you cannot mess up the words to the most precious song in the nation,'" Kull said with a laugh, remembering the performance.
The opportunity of a lifetime began with a text message from an assistant coach.
"Apparently the NCAA reached out to our athletics staff ," Kull said. "They [said]: 'If you make it to the Final Four, we're going to need someone to sing the national anthem [from] one of your student-athletes."
Kull's musical pedigree – she sang choir in high school – was about to be called upon. A video-recorded performance was soon sent off. After Auburn defeated Kentucky 77-71 to advance to the Final Four, Kull was celebrating at the famed Toomer's Corner in Auburn, Ala.
She got the news.
Kull, a former three-year varsity player for the Saints, later arrived to Minnesota on the morning of April 5 and met Virginia's Milla Ciprian, Michigan State's Zach Kovan and Texas Tech's Dorian Williams Jr.
The quartet began to master the non-traditional arrangement in a matter of hours.
"We basically made it up as we went along," Kull said.
Later that evening, they practiced on the court. The 66,200-seat capacity U.S. Bank Stadium was going to be electric in 24 hours.
Her parents, Jennie and James, were able to fly out and witness it in person. Jennie is the head varsity girls volleyball coach at East, while James teaches music and is the band director.
"I actually was really not that nervous," Kull said. "I was more really excited to just finally be able to perform it. I think it really didn't hit me at what I did until afterward...it was just a total surreal experience."
The social media experience blew up. The performance, tweeted via the official NCAA Twitter account, has been viewed nearly 47,000 times alone. Kull became the star of her friend's Instagram and Snapchat stories.
Kull later sat in the third row for the game, witnessing and agonizing through the shock that was unfolding in Auburn's heartbreaking 63-62 loss.
Down 62-60, Virginia's Kyle Guy launched a three-point attempt as time was expiring. It clanked off the rim. In the moment, it appeared Auburn, as a fifth seed, was ticketed for the national title game for the first time in school history.
"We all thought we won for a couple seconds," Kull said.
One of the most controversial foul calls in recent memory was about to change everything. Auburn's Samir Doughty appeared to make slight contact with Guy on the attempt.
Kull looked to a friend, who is a manager on the team, on the bench.
"They came into the huddle and came out of it...he looked really mad," Kull said. "I was like, 'Oh gosh, they called it a foul."
The foul was called, and Guy subsequently sank three free throws to pull off the seemingly impossible. Auburn's desperation heave with 0.6 seconds left fell short.
"I turned around [and] I could see everybody crying and in complete shock," Kull recalled. "Even walking around afterward, people were 'Hey, sorry about your team.'"
Kull, being a fellow athlete, knows how much work it took for the team to get there.
"I just felt so bad for them," Kull said. "You see them every day in the gym...they're there for hours and just always working hard."