By Mark Moschetti
SEATTLE – Thirteen-point-eight-eight seconds.
It fits four times into every minute (with room to spare). Or 259 times into every hour. Or 6,224 times into every day.
Thirteen-point-eight-eight seconds.
It's such a tiny tidbit of time. But on a windy May Saturday afternoon in Ellensburg a couple years ago, it made all the difference in the world to
Hannah Chang.
And it still does.
Thirteen-point-eight-eight seconds. That's how long it took Seattle Pacific's Chang, then a sophomore, to go from start line to finish line in the 100-meter hurdles finals at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships.
It was faster than she had ever gone before. Faster than anyone else on the track that day. Even fast enough to earn her a ticket to the NCAA Championships two weeks later.
"I've been telling myself 13.99 all season," Chang said after the race. "(Going) 13.8 – I couldn't even imagine that."
That became the first of Chang's two straight 100 hurdles titles at GNAC outdoors. Since then, she also has won two consecutive crowns in the 60 hurdles at GNAC indoors.
On Monday and Tuesday, the now-senior Chang will be back on the same straightaway at the Central Washington Rec Sports Complex in E-berg. She will be seeking a third straight GNAC outdoor crown in the 100s, fifth conference hurdles title overall and another berth in the NCAAs.
"I feel really good in a lot of different areas with the season almost coming to an end and my whole collegiate career coming to an end," the 21-year-old Chang said. "I feel good mentally and I feel right where I need to be physically. I just really want to do my best because I'm so proud of everything that I've done."
Chang believes in a big way that winning her first championship two springs ago – which she was not favored to win, coming into the finals as just the No. 4 seed – was a big springboard to her continued success.
"It definitely felt like a catalyst," she said. "It definitely gave me a lot of confidence and more drive going into training and competitions."
FROM HEPS TO HURDLES
Chang could have done a lot of different things in college track. Matter of fact, for her first couple years with the Falcons, that's exactly what she did:
A lot of different things.
As a freshman in 2023, Chang competed in the GNAC indoor pentathlon and the outdoor heptathlon. During her 2024 sophomore year, she again did the GNAC pentathlon, leaping from ninth place the previous winter all the way up to second and a place on the podium.
That spring, Chang did two heps, the second of which got her third place and a podium position at GNAC.
"I think a part of me wanted to continue multi events," Chang said. "But I think my body was kind of calling me back to hurdles. I got a little bit injured at the beginning of my junior year so I decided to just stick with the hurdles.
"Looking back, that was the right decision."
SPU head coach Karl Lerum, who has developed many national-caliber multi-eventers during his 20-plus years at the helm, saw things the same way as Chang did.
"Hannah was excellent at many of the events. She could have been an excellent heptathlete," he said. "But we just felt she had the chance to be better as a hurdles specialist."
Even someone at the top of her craft has to start somewhere. For Chang, that was at Richland High School in Washington's Tri-Cities. She originally did track to stay in shape for basketball, then gradually came around to realizing that track was actually a better fit.
Especially the hurdles.
"Hurdles have always been my thing – it just felt right to do hurdles," Chang said. "Without my high school coach, Coach Q (Jim Qualheim) I wouldn't have tried the hurdles. He told me that in order to be a hurdler, you have to be a good sprinter. He said it would open a lot of doors for me – and he was definitely right."
Chang attended and played basketball at Tri-Cities Prep. But that school does not have a track program, so she ultimately raced for Richland.
The two sports ultimately were intertwined for Chang.
"Looking back on my journey as an athlete, I'm so grateful I had that basketball experience because without it, I never would have tried track," she said. "I feel like track just fit me as a person and as an athlete, and I feel I was able to grow in so many ways that I'm so grateful for."
Part of that included her decision to attend Seattle Pacific.
"I really wanted to test my boundaries as an athlete," she said, "and at that time, trying track at the D2 level was really going to suit me as a person."
Added Lerum, "I was excited about Hannah. She was a multi-sport athlete coming out of high school. She got a lot better at her best events.. She had run a lot of hurdles races before SPU."
STEPPING INTO THE MOMENT
Chang's first college win came – appropriately enough – in the 100 hurdles, as the leadoff event of the GNAC heptathlon in the spring of 2023. A couple weekends later, she capped her freshman year by placing fourth in the hurdles at the GNAC Championships.
In the very first race of her sophomore season, the broke the 9-second mark in the indoor 60 hurdles clocking 8.96. She was down to 8.85 by the end of the winter.
Chang put together a stretch of three wins in four races in the 100 hurdles during the first month of the outdoor season. At the CWU Invitational, on the same track that would host the GNAC meet, she clocked a personal-best 14.30.
Chang came into the GNAC prelims as the No. 4 seed on the basis of that 14.30. She retained that No. 4 spot with a 14.41 prelim time.
The next day in the finals, the starting gun went off and Chang blazed out of the blocks. She had the lead going over the first of the 10 hurdles and never lost it. Chang fended off a closing kick from Alaska Anchorage's Liv Heite to win by four tenths, 13.88 to 14.28.
"That was really just my bravery," Chang said in reflecting back on the race. "I really just gave it my all with no expectations. I was so surprised by the result. I was so proud of being able to step into that moment as myself and do what I knew I was capable of doing."
Her 13.88 was wind-aided but still legal for NCAA qualifying purposes. Even so, she was still one spot below the "red line" at No. 21 on the national list by the end of the weekend. When the entries were revealed, one of the athletes above her had decided not to compete in that race, so Chang moved up into the 20
th and final qualifying position.
She ultimately placed 16
th in 14.25, and cherished every moment at the meet in Emporia, Kansas.
"It was honestly surreal being at nationals. To be with the best in the country was definitely a dream come true," Chang said. "Coming into (college) track, my whole idea was I wanted to push myself and see how far I could go. Making it to the national stage was an amazing experience for me."
HANNAH VS. HEITE
That the GNAC finals ultimately came down to a closing sprint between Chang and UAA's Liv Heite was presciently appropriate.
Beginning that year (2024) when Chang was a sophomore and Heite a freshman, they have shared the same track on the same day 23 times. Most of the time (17 of the 23), they've been in the same heat, including five GNAC finals (three indoors, two outdoors). Chang has a 14-3 record in the 17 head-to-head races.
But add up all their finishing times from those 23 meet days, and it is jaw-dropping close: 4 minutes, 31.01 seconds total for Chang; 4 minutes, 32.01 for Heite. That includes a photo-finish one-hundredth of a second apart in February's GNAC indoor finals (an SPU school-record 8.52 for Chang, a UAA school record 8.53 for Heite).
Then there was last year's GNAC outdoor meet in Bellingham. Heite's prelim heat was first, and she got to the wire in a meet-record 13.81 seconds, bettering the old standard of 13.82 that had stood for 20 years.
Less than five minutes later, Chang got there in 13.76.
"That's championship racing," Lerum said afterward. "Those two responded to each other, and I can't wait for them to line up tomorrow."
Tomorrow came, and they were side by side in Lanes 4 and 5 for the finals. Heite had an ever-so-slight edge midway through the race. Chang closed in on Hurdle 7, pulled even on Hurdle 8, nudged ahead at Hurdle 9, then hung on over Hurdle 10 and all the way to the finish line, winning in 13.85. Heite was right behind in 13.91.
"I am honestly just so grateful for her. We really do bring out the best in each other," Chang said. "It's a really passionate rivalry that we have, but it really pushes the best from each other. We can both feel it when we step on the track. I'm really grateful for that rivalry, and I'll definitely miss it."
Added Lerum, "She's so fortunate to have Liv in the conference. Without her, Hannah would have had a lot less exciting races."
Passion aside, Chang and Heite share the same mutual respect that typifies most track and field athletes.
"She will always come up and say, 'Good job' to me after a race," Chang said, "and the feeling is always mutual."
EXCELLENTLY EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS
No surprise that those two are considered the ones to beat this week. Heite comes in as the top seed at 14.01; Chang is right there at 14.03.
The NCAA red line is certainly within reach. The top 22 qualifiers make the cut, with no further additions to the field. Currently, the No. 22 time is 13.86. Chang's 14.03 is No. 40.
"I just want to trust my training and my abilities. I think if I do that, I will be I really good shape," Chang said.
If Chang wins, she will join Central Washington's Mariyah Vongsaveng (2017-18-19) as the only three-time GMAC 100 hurdles champion. Those two also would be tied for most overall hurdles titles with five, as Chang has won the past two indoor 60-meter crowns and Vongsaveng won indoors in 2016 and 2018.
"Oh my gosh, I was just hoping I could win even one," Chang said. "This is such a competitive conference. I'm honestly in shock of where I am and am just so grateful."
Lerum is just as grateful … but certainly not shocked.
"She has always been a very thoughtful and intentional person," he said. "She is obviously a special athlete. I'm really excited for this week. I think we'll have good conditions for fast sprinting. Both of those kids (Chang and Heite) will have a nice wind to their back."
A physiology major with an interest in possibly pursuing a PhD in biomedical science research, Chang know she's down to the final few races of her career.
But she wouldn't change a thing.
"Honestly, it was life-changing and amazing," she said. "I've loved all the hard moments, all the ups and downs. I feel like I've grown so much as a person and as an athlete.
"I just can't imagine my life without these past four years."
Especially on those afternoons at the track when life was all about tiny tidbits of time …
… even as tiny as thirteen-point-eight-eight seconds.
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