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Natalie Dumas folded herself up and went down to the track on her hands and knees just after crossing the finish line. Her legs just couldn't hold her up any more and her body was so drained that she was helped to her feet by an official before staggering into the arms of her grandmother, who she shared a warm embrace with along the chain link fence that circled the oval.
The electrifying junior at Eastern had just spilled everything she had on the track when she completed a triple for the ages with a jaw-dropping and head-spinning victory in the 800-meter run at Wednesday's 56th NJSIAA Meet of Champions, held in very steamy conditions at Pennsauken High School.
Dumas had already won the 400 hurdles for the second straight year in 1:00.25 and repeated as champion in the 400 in 53.16, matching her winning time last year which is No. 4 in meet history, when she stepped to the line to run the 800, less than 30 minutes after she won the one-lap race.
What happened next was simply jaw-dropping and mind-splitting!
Dumas blasted out to a short lead over Clemmie Lilley of Rumson by splitting 60.45 for the first 400. Somehow, someway after all she had done, Dumas was able to keep pouring it on as she opened a 20-meter gap on Lilley on the backstretch.
Over the final 50 meters, Dumas, who ran 62.45 over the final 400, started to feel her legs getting a bit shaky, but she dug down deep and found something left in her tank and willed her way across the line, stopping the clock with a new meet record of 2:02.75, one of the fastest times in state history!! Yes- you read that right!
Lilley, one of the fastest half milers in state history who was running her first race of the day, was second in 2:05.96, No. 7 in meet history.
Dumas not only shattered the meet record, but her 2:07.75 is the third fastest time in NJ history, the third fastest time in the nation this season, No. 7 all-time in U.S. history for a junior and the 16th fastest time in U.S. high school history. She sliced nearly 5 seconds off her previous PR of 2:07.68 that she ran at the Nike Indoor Nationals in March.
The former meet record of 2:04.67 was set in 2009 by the great Jill Smith of Southern!
Oh, did I mention this happened when it was 85 degrees and it came less than a half hour after Dumas won the 400!!! It's worthy repeating!!!
The performance by Dumas makes her an instant NJ legend!!!
The only two runners in NJ high school history who have run faster in the 2-lapper than Dumas are the current American record holders in the 800. They are World Champion and American indoor record holder Ajee' Wilson of Neptune, who ran 2:00.91 when she finished first at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships, and 2-time gold medalist and American outdoor record holder Athing Mu of Trenton, who ran 2:01.17 to place fourth at the 2019 USA Track and Field Championships. That's it!!!
Dumas is the first athlete (boy or girl) to ever win the 400 hurdles, the 400 and the 800 at the Meet of Champions. In fact, no girl or boy had ever won the 400 and the 800 or the 400 hurdles and the 800 before!
We've seen some other eye-popping performances at the M of C before, but nothing like this!!
Olivia Baker of Columbia
won the 100, 200, and 400 and anchored the winning 4x400 in 2013. Reuben McCoy of Winslow won the 400 hurdles, the 200, and the 400 in 2004, and Jodie Bilotta of North Hunterdon won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 in 1988. And in 2016, the legendary Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of Union Catholic broke the state records in both the 400 (51.87) and the 400 hurdles (56.23)!
Because of how demanding this triple was on Dumas's body, the heat, the short recovery time and how fast she ran in the 800, the Dumas trifecta is on a whole different level.
Fans, coaches, athletes and officials shook their heads in awe after Dumas finished off her historic triple in the 800.
Rich Refi, the veteran head girls coach at Hillsborough, said there's nothing that compares to what Dumas accomplished. I couldn't find anyone who didn't agree!
"I've always tried to limit the best performances that I've ever witnessed to the top 3 in my 35 years of coaching,'' said Refi. "It's really difficult. There have been so many, like CBA's JV squad winning at the Meet of Champions in cross-country in 2012?. At the Meet of Champions, Baker, Nick Vena (state record 75-10.25 in the shot put on this final attempt in 2011, McLaughlin (2016), and McCoy. There are so many, but now there is a definite number 1 for me. This was unreal!!! Winning 2 of those events would have made for a ridiculous double. No one else would have attempted this triple.''
A lot of people were skeptical of Dumas trying to pull off such a grueling triple. What made her try it?
"I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could push myself to do something that no one has done before,'' said Dumas. "When I make up my mind to do something it motivates me to go out and get it done. I Iike the pressure. It makes me work harder to prove I can do it!''
Next up for Dumas is an attempt to break the NJ meet record in the 400 this Sunday at the Brooks PR Invitational in Renton, Washington. Dumas ran 51.87 at the NJSIAA, South Jersey, Group 4 meet to equal the NJ record that McLaughlin-Levrone ran at the 2016 Meet of Champions!
Will she break it?
I don't think it's wise to ever bet against Dumas!
