Hilliard Darby product Chase Hampton transferred back home from Division I Lipscomb University before the fall of 2018 and began making an immediate impact for Otterbein, helping lead the cross country program to its first Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) title in almost 15 years. The junior was the OAC runner-up to spearhead the group effort.

Hampton and the Cardinals eventually qualified for the NCAA Championships following a second place finish at regionals. Unfortunately, five Otterbein runners (including Hampton) went down in an early-race pileup and were forced to regroup from there. He tried his best to rally and ended up advancing 30 spots from that point, settling for a 46th-place finish and missing All-American honors by five seconds.

He kept that motivation with him as track and field season progressed, qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3,000 meters and seizing the opportunity at hand. He kicked nicely to advance from prelims and then took part in one of the fastest 3K’s ever in NCAA Division III during finals…

Hampton swung out wide during a full sprint in the final straightaway, ultimately out-leaning a fellow competitor by .03 seconds at the line to grab the eighth and final All-American podium spot.

Hampton surged into outdoor season with the monkey off his back, comfortably qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a strong 3K steeplechase time early in the spring. He glided through prelims and found himself as high as third during Saturday’s final race, ultimately settling for sixth place in 9:10 to secure a double All-American season.

His senior year of XC (2019) featured just about everything, as he became the All-Ohio, OAC and Great Lakes Regional individual champion. Otterbein repeated as team champions at the first two events and then took second place at regionals once more, when Hampton became just the fourth runner in program history to win the NCAA Great Lakes. He then completd the All-American trifecta at the ensuing NCAA Championships in Louisville, taking 12th nationally to hit the podium.

Hampton was an NCAA Indoor qualifier come 2020, foregoing individual events to try and win a national title with the DMR, before the meet was abruptly cancled due to the sweeping coronavirus pandemic. He later graduated with a 3.85 GPA in middle childhood education and finished his decorated career appropriately with first team CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. He was one of just 16 standouts on the first team and became the program's first overall selection in nearly two decades.

Hampton won 20 total races in a Cardinal uniform, delivered a combined 10 All-OAC awards, won conference titles in the 800, 3K and 5K and and was fittingly named the league’s “Most Outstanding Distance Runner."