Hakim McMorris didn't simply repeat as Division II-AA decathlon state champion - he dominated. The McCallie senior won seven events and placed second in two to finish with an astounding 7,277 total points, beating the next closest competitor by 979 points Thursday and Friday at Brentwood Academy.
"What an amazing performance," McCallie coach Mike Wood said. "Hakim clearly has a lot of God-given talent, but his attitude really separates him. He had strained his upper hamstring a couple of weeks ago and wasn't able to qualify in the hurdles at the region meet, so we were worried about that coming in.
"But he ran well, and once he finished the hurdles I knew he was in good shape to win another title pretty easily. Instead of relaxing, though, he was highly motivated to see how many points he could score and turned in a very impressive two days."
McMorris not only set a school record for total points but also has the highest point total among all prep decathletes nationally and the third-most points in state history. His total was 700 more points than any other decathlon state champion from the other three classifications.
Ensworth's Jude Maloy was runner-up with 6,298, while McCallie's Adams Robinson finished fifth and teammate Joshua Smith was seventh.
Former Blue Tornado athlete Michael Bingham, who went on to run in the Olympics 4x400 relay, was the first decathlete in the state to break 7,000 points.
McMorris, a University of California signee, won the 100-meter dash (10.87 seconds), 400 (49.56), 110 hurdles (15.10), 1500 (4:54.31), triple jump (45-4) and high jump (6-4) as well as the long jump (23-2), which broke a 30-year-old school record. He finished second in the shot put (45-4) and discus (139-1) and was fourth in the pole vault (11 feet).