SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It was quite a sight on national television in Friday’s opening day of the world track and field championships held at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
And right there in the spotlight was Chase Ealey, a graduate of Los Alamos High in New Mexico and a record-breaker in track and field for the Hilltoppers. In four seasons, she accounted for six state marks.
Now, four days before her 28th birthday, she was the headline athlete at the first world championships held in the United States, and the first worlds in three years. Draped around her was the shining colorful gold medal for becoming the first American woman to win the shot put, with her best throw her first one of 67 feet, 2 and 1-4 inches topping the field, and with a score of 1,394. Once she knew the final results, and being a former sprinter, she sped to the stands to hug her trainer, family members, and friends.
She was the first individual winner of the day, joining the men’s United States 100 meters championship sweep that came next when 27-year-old Fred Kerley sped home first in 9.86, right behind in 9.88 was Marvin Bracy, and just a split-second behind in third was Trayon Brumwell.
The 5-foot-10, 143-pound Ealey was proudly wearing a red top that said USA, and a blue bottom, and she couldn’t stop dancing around and celebrating. She had hugs and high fives for the other women in her field, and happily provided interviews after dethroning two-time champion Gong Lijiao of China, who finished second.
“I am just so happy,” Ealey said, “to accomplish something like this. I mean this is world-wide, it doesn’t come around every day. This is like a decade since I competed in high school, and wow, what a feeling, and I also send my best to everyone in Los Alamos.”
It’s been quite some time since multi-talented Ealey was among New Mexico’s spotlight athletes. Back then, she didn’t dominate but one event, she surprisingly topped the field in the 100 and 200 meters and in the field events, the shot put and javelin. She ran the anchor legs on the victorious 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays.
In her case, it’s not what came first the chicken or the egg, it’s what came first the sprints or the field events?
In establishing these state records, the former gifted girl athlete from Los Alamos High did so in not just one event, but in six. She began as a freshman in 2009 by winning the 100 meters, and wound up her senior year in 2012 by wiping out four state records the same day. She won the 100 three times, but had to wait until speeding 12.35 her senior season to surpass the state mark.
Yes, in her last time running at state she not only broke the century record, but joined with the Hilltopper quartets as the anchor legs to set marks in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays, as well as in the shot put. Her sophomore year she initially passed the baton to set the 4 x 100 record, and as a junior dismantled that time.
Those marks still stand, the 4 x 100 in 48.50, the javelin with a throw of 131-01, the 100 meters in the time of 12.35, the 4 x 200 in 1:43.35, and that 4 x 100 stick-pass was the third and fastest raced by Ealey and her teammates in the four seasons.
One record escaped her. Four times she took first in the shot put, but could never surpass the 50 1/4 throw of Santa Fe High’s Carla Garret in 1984, 10 years before Ealey was born. Garret will be remembered as one of the finest track and field athlete in the state, so Ealey settled for the second-best throw of 47-3 her season year. After high school, she attended Oklahoma State University.
Her older sister Taylor finished behind Chase twice, as a senior in 2009 she placed third in the javelin at 121-03, and in the same year took third in the shot put at 39-18.
CHASE EALEY AT LOS ALAMOS HIGH SCHOOL:
Freshman 2009 — 1st in 100 meters, 12.73
2nd in 4 x 200, 1.44.13
2nd in Shot Put, 39-08
Sophomore 2010 — 1st in 4 x 100, 50.23 *
2nd in Javelin, 124-01
2nd in Shot Put, 44-07
Junior 2011 — 1st in 100 meters, 12.52
1st in 4 x 100, 49.34 *
1st in Javelin, 131-01 *
1st in Shot Put, 45-03
4th in 4 x 200, 1.47.37
Senior 2012 — 1st in 100 meters, 12.35 *
1st in Shot Put, 47-03
1st in 4 x 100, 48.50 *
1st in 4 x 200, 1.43.35 *
4th in 4 x 400, 4.11.06
