IN DEMAND

WASILLA — In many ways, Morgan Dampier has spent her summer just as any typical Valley kid has.

She’s working full time, and squeezes in as much time with friends and family before she starts her senior year at Wasilla High School. But in other ways, Dampier’s summer has been extraordinary.

While others her age may only be counting down the days that remain until their summer ends and another school year begins, Dampier is counting the phone calls, emails and letters she’s receiving from universities from across the country.

Arguably the Mat-Su Valley’s most touted track and field athlete in some time, the Wasilla High multisport standout is sifting through a pile of potential suitors, schools eager to add Dampier to their track teams for the next four years.

“It has kind of been crazy,” Dampier said recently before, rattling off a list of Division I schools she’s been contacted by.

It’s like a who’s who of major college athletics — Duke, Illinois, Penn State, Iowa State, Kansas State.

The letters have been coming to the Dampier house steadily and seem to increase when she hits another milestone in her career. The calls began promptly on July 1, the first day officials from these schools could personally contact athletes during this recent recruiting period.

Dampier said she hopes to make a decision well before her final high school track and field season begins — and it’s a decision Dampier is not taking lightly, Wasilla head coach Gary Howell said.

“She’s really taking this seriously,” Howell said.

Howell, who has coached Dampier in two sports throughout her high school career, said the incoming senior is also taking the right things into consideration as she thinks about her future.

“She’s looking at who’s offering the most money, who has the best academics and then who has the best track team. She’s a student first and she knows that,” Howell said of Dampier, who hopes to study environmental science or wildlife biology in college.

Dampier said the process is overwhelming at times, but she’s trying to look at all of the factors.

“It’s the biggest decision of my life,” Dampier said.

Some may say it’s a good problem to have, and Howell said he can relate in a unique way. During the track season, Howell regularly mulls which events to enter Dampier, an athlete who could realistically win about a half-dozen different events on any given day.

She’s a state champion in the 400 meters and a two-time state champion and state record-holder in the 800. Dampier, the best mid-distance runner in the state, could also win the 100 or 200, and even has a meet victory in the long jump.

Howell stresses over those decisions, but other coaches tell Howell it’s just a great problem to have.

“I just don’t want to screw it up,” Howell said.

Dampier ended her junior season by winning a pair titles at the 2011 ASAA/First National Bank State Track and Field Championships. She won the 400-meter with a stellar time of 57.43 seconds, and within the hour, Dampier clocked a mind-boggling 2:10.42 in the 800. The mark was more than three seconds better than the record she had set during her state-title-winning run her sophomore year. The 2:10 mark in the 800 is also the qualifying time used by Division I programs.

“She’s a Pac-10 athlete in high school,” Howell said. “It’s crazy.”

Dampier’s stock rose again earlier this summer when she was named the Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year for track and field. She is the second Wasilla athlete to win the award for track. Sprinter Corey Moore earned the honor in 1988. She’s also the second girl and sixth Valley track and field athlete to be honored by Gatorade.

“I thought that I would be a candidate, but I was a little surprised,” Dampier said. “There were a lot of great athletes this year.”

If anything, Dampier said she was surprised she won the award as a junior.

Howell is not surprised at all.

“She’s a once-in-a-career athlete,” Howell said. “Not just her ability, but her coachability, her personality, her academics. Everybody hopes for just one. I’ve been blessed to have one within my first five years of coaching.”

Howell said he believes the Gatorade award is among the most notable handed to Alaska athletes.

“It really is. People don’t realize how big of a deal it is,” Howell said.

Howell said award judges look beyond athletics.

“Gatorade looks at academics and the service,” Howell said.

When Gatorade officials contacted him, Howell said the official wanted to talk more about Dampier as a person and a student, rather than about Dampier the Alaska track star.

The Gatorade award also took recruiting to another level.

“As soon as she won the Gatorade award, there were dozens of emails and phone calls from big schools,” Howell said.

Dampier used her two individual state crowns to help her Wasilla team win a girls’ track and field team title for the first time in school history. She also was the runner-up in the 100 and helped the Warriors finish second in the 1,600-meter relay. Last fall, Dampier also helped Wasilla win a girls’ cross-country running title.

Dampier first started running on a track team in the fourth grade. She wasn’t too serious about it, but as she went through middle school it became more fun. And then something clicked.

“The eighth grade came and something in me told me I need to be training,” Dampier said. “I knew I’d be at the bottom of the food chain and I wanted to rise to the top.”

She even practiced with the Wasilla High team a few times as an eighth-grader.

“There’s always been a passion for running. I don’t know where it came from,” Dampier said.

Dampier played basketball in middle school and was on the WHS swim team as a freshman, but said she’s always preferred the running sports.

“I think I like testing my limits,” Dampier said. “I have a pain threshold and I want to see how far past it I can get.”

Dampier is a year away from taking the next step in her life, on a journey that could take her to one of a number of major universities. That doesn’t scare her. She’s used to dramatic change. Dampier was born in Saudi Arabia, her father is British and was working as an engineer there and her mother was active military stationed in the country. Her family lived in the Middle East until 2003, when they moved back to the United States.

Howell said he’s confident Dampier will find success wherever she decides to go. He knows she is far from hitting her peak athletically and said he knows she has a very promising future.

“I can’t wait to watch her on T.V.,” Howell said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.