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Coming full circle

Former Minot High track star Milbrath reflects on NDSU career

Photo courtesy of NDSU Athletics North Dakota State senior Morgan Milbrath, a Minot High graduate, runs with the baton in a 4x400 relay at the NCAA West Preliminaries earlier this season in Austin, Texas.

Four years after reaching the pinnacle of her collegiate track and field career at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, North Dakota State runner Morgan Milbrath desired nothing more than to make one final encore appearance to wrap up her senior season.

Last weekend, that dream became a reality for the former Minot High School standout.

With the support of 4×400 relay teammates Rose Jackson, Alexis Woods and Amy Andrushko, Milbrath concluded her memorable college experience with one final lap at nationals in Eugene, Oregon.

“I got to go my first year and I made it back my last year,” she said. “It was a blast. The atmosphere is one of a kind for a track meet… It’s one of the few places in the world where everybody there is for the track meet. Everybody cheers for everybody. When races are going on, the whole stadium is loud. It erupts. It kind of sounds like a football game and that’s just not something you typically see at a track meet.”

As a freshman, Milbrath was part of a star-studded 4×400 relay team that broke the school’s outdoor relay record three times in 21 days and wound up racing to a 14th place at the 2014 outdoor national championships. Their mark of three minutes and 32.85 seconds still stands as a school record.

Milbrath departs from the program with five school records in total: outdoor 4×400 relay, outdoor 4×200 relay, indoor 4×400 relay, 300-meter dash and 400-meter dash.

“It was more than I could ever ask for,” Milbrath said about her time as a Bison. “I think I had a great career at NDSU and I could never ask for a better way to end my senior season.”

The quest to return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, following the graduation of her talented relay partners Ashley Tingelstad, a five-time Summit League 400-meter champion, and NCAA championship qualifiers Ashley Heinze (hurdles) and Paige Stratioti (800), proved to be difficult.

Last year, Milbrath and the Bison came 0.31 seconds short of qualifying the 4×400 relay team for the outdoor nationals, as NDSU was edged for the 12th and final spot by Oklahoma.

That fraction of second heartbreak turned into jubilation last month at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Austin, Texas. Seeded with the 13th fastest time and the Top 12 4×400 relay teams making it to nationals, NDSU posted the eighth-fastest time at the meet and second-fastest in school history (3:33.38) to relay Milbrath back to Oregon.

In front of raucous crowd at Hayward Field on June 15, the Bison 4×400 relay team clocked a time of 3:38.44 in their heat to take 17th at the outdoor nationals. They were five seconds off the pace of making the final championship heat.

“Honestly, it was a dream come true to be able to go back,” Milbrath said. “My senior year I was mentally more ready to race just by having four years of experience of racing with big name athletes at the collegiate level. That definitely helps with your confidence going into the (NCAA nationals) meet.”

During her time as a Majette, Milbrath set school records in the 200, 400 and the 4×200 relay. She still holds the state record in the 100 (11.97 seconds) and 200 (24.32 seconds), both set back in 2010 when Milbrath was a high school freshman.

By the end of Milbrath’s prep career, she had accumulated nine state titles. Besides tearing up the track, she also played basketball and earned accolades spiking volleyballs at Minot High.

With so much success, what possible advice could she give to her younger self before becoming a Division I student-athlete with the NDSU women’s track and field team?

“I would say to enjoy it and have fun because the sport is really hard at times,” Milbrath said. “You need to be able to enjoy it as well and remember why you are doing the sport. Also, nutrition. It plays a big key in where you end up. You need to be careful about what you eat when you first get into college because the Freshman 15 is a real thing.”

Milbrath has one more semester of student teaching left at NDSU before graduating. After that she isn’t quite sure what her future holds, but did mention finding a teaching job and possibly coaching.

“Wherever the wind takes me,” she said.

After charging forward at full speed over the last decade, Milbrath has earned the leeway of being at the mercy of the wind for a change.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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