Morgen Chase Republic Year: Senior Sport: Track Events: Sprints/Hurdles

Morgen Chase was at the starting line, wondering if his date with destiny would or could be met.

He was 200 meters away from winning his fourth championship of the day at the State B track meet at EWU.

“It was weird,” the Republic senior said. “Before that last race, I was so tired, I could barely stand up.”

That’s understandable. During preliminaries on Friday, he set meet records in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.29 seconds) and 300-meter intermediate hurdles (38.4) and made it through in the 100 and 200.

Before Saturday’s 200, he had won the two hurdles races and the 100.

“Something hit me,” Chase recalled. “I just had to win.”

He did, becoming the first male in state history, any classification, to score 40 points in a single state meet.

“I was terrified of losing,” Chase said. “I guess I felt I owed something to my team. I don’t know what it was - maybe I was afraid I wouldn’t get them some points we counted on to try to win state.”

The Tigers fell three points short, finishing second, but Chase did all he could.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I haven’t realized it’s my last meet,” he said. “But I broke my goals. Really, I thrashed them. I’m extremely pleased with my performance.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo