Natalie Dumas, who is having a season for the ages, is planning to attempt a historic triple when she competes at Wednesday's Meet of Champions at Pennsauken High School.
The junior at Eastern, who won the 400 hurdles, the 400 and anchored the winning 4x400 at the M of C last June, will not only defend her 400 hurdles and flat 400 titles, but she's also planning to run the 800, her coach Mike Tangeman said.
If Dumas pulled off this triple it would be one of the greatest performances in state history!! No athlete (boy or girl) has ever won those 3 events at the Meet of Champions. In fact, no girl has ever won the 400 and 800 or the 400 hurdles and 800 at the same Meet of Champions!!
Should Dumas hit this trifecta, she'd join Jodie Bilotta of North Hunterdon, Reuben McCoy of Winslow and Olivia Baker NJ of Columbia as the only athletes in state history to win three individual events at the same M of C.
Bilotta won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 at the 1988 Meet of Champions at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield
McCoy won the 400 hurdles (51.39), the 200 (21.51) and the 400 (47.42) at the 2004 Meet of Champions at Frank Jost Field. Baker won the 100 (12.05), 200 (23.95) and 400 (53.84) and anchored the winning 4x400 at the 2013 M of C, also at Frank Jost Field.
And of course there was the crazy triple by Paulsboro's Fred Sharpe at the 1997 M of C when he won the 400 hurdles (51.62), placed third in the 1,600 (4:15.73), and came back and won the 800 in 1:53.40!!!
Let's break down the three races for Dumas in her pursuit of history.
Dumas, who won the 400 hurdles at the New Balance National Championships last year, is the overwhelming favorite to win the 400 hurdles and the 400. She ran 57.30 in the 400 hurdles, No. 3 in state history and No. 1 in the nation this season, when she won the Group 4 race last Friday. No one else in the state has broken 1:00.00. In the 400, Dumas tied the state record in the flat 400 when she ripped a 51.87 at the South Jersey, Group 4 Championships! No one else in this race has been under 54.00 this season.
The 800 is a different story. Dumas will be the underdog in the 2-lapper. While she ran 2:10.49 to win the State Group 4 800 this past weekend and owns a PR of 2:07.68 from indoors, there are multiple runners who have run faster than Dumas who will likely be in this race.
State leader Paige Sheppard of Union Catholic has run 2:03.84, Clemmie Lilley of Rumson has gone 2:04.79, defending champion Reagan Moore NJ of Oak Knoll ran a PR of 2:04.86 to win the Nike Indoor National title and has run 2:06.31 this season, and Reese Reynolds Malone of Rumson checks in with a 2:06.69.
It should be noted that there is a chance that Sheppard, a 2-time Indoor M of C winner in the 1,600 and state leader in that race at 4:41.93, and Lilley, the Group 2 800 and 1,600 champ, could opt for the 1,600 instead, and Malone could bypass the 800 and focus on the 400? Stay tuned!