There has never been anyone like Natalie Dumas, certainly not in New Jersey and perhaps not in the country on the scholastic level!!!
Dumas, the indefatigable junior at Eastern, showcased her breathtaking talent once again on Sunday by sending the high school track and field world into an absolute frenzy by completing what has to be the greatest triple by a U.S. high school girl with yet another head-spinning victory at the New Balance National Championships at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Dumas, who already won the 400 hurdles on Friday (a meet record 55.99 ) and the flat 400 on Saturday (a meet and NJ record 51.14), pulled off another stunning performance in the 800 when she used a quick burst right before the finish line to win in heart-pounding fashion, stopping the clock at 2:00.11. That smashed the meet and NJ records and is No. 5 in U.S. history!!!!
That's right - Dumas went 3 for 3 with 3 meet records and 2 NJ records over the past 3 days!
This is a trifecta for the ages!!!!! It will go down as one of the greatest achievements of all-time on any level in this sport!!!
Oh, and Dumas also earned All-American honors with a 2:03.90 anchor split on the runner-up SMR squad!! So she is a quadruple All-American!
Has any other female on any level in the world ever run under 51.15, under 56.00 and under 2:00.12 in those three races in their lifetime!!!? Maybe not?!
And she did it all in three days!!! And she's 16 years old!!!
We will be throwing a lot of numbers and stats at you about the insane performance by Dumas, which almost don't seem real. But first a look at how the 800 played out.
Dumas was locked in a great battle with national leader Emmry Ross of Michigan, who led after a 58.85 opening 400, but Dumas stayed on her heels with a 59.08 quarter.
Dumas didn't want to sit and kick, so she took the lead with about 300 to go and opened a 5-meter lead on Ross. But Ross refused to go away, fighting back and drawing just about even with Dumas with around 50 meters left and looked like she might take the lead. But Dumas, with Ross on to her right shoulder, did what she always does, finding something deep down in her tank to make one final surge to get just a stride ahead of Ross to secure the victory. Ross was second in 2:00.25, No. 6 in U.S. history.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
No let's get into all the numbers and stats for Dumas.
With her times of 55.99 in the 400 hurdles, No. 6 in U.S. history, 51.14 in the 400, also No. 6 in U.S. history and her 2:00.11 in the 800, Dumas is the first girl in U.S. high school history to run sub-52, sub-56 and sub-2:01!!!
When Dumas burned her 51.14 to win the 400, she broke the NJ record of 51.87 that she shared with McLaughlin-Levrone, who ran that time as a junior at Union Catholic at the 2016 Meet of Champions. McLaughlin-Levrone is a 4-time Olympic gold medalist and the current World Record holder in the 400 hurdles.
There is still something that Dumas shares and will always share with McLaughlin-Levrone.... Their birthday!!!
That's right - Dumas and McLaughlin were both born on Aug. 7!!!! How crazy is that!! This just keeps getting better!!!!
With her 2:00.11 in the 800 on Sunday, Dumas broke the NJ record of 2:00.91 set by the great Ajee' Wilson of Neptune when she won 2-lapper at the the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships. Wilson is a 2-time Olympian, is the current American Indoor Record holder in the 800, and she won the 800 at the World Indoor Championships in 2022.
Dumas is now the second fastest junior in U.S. history in the 800. The only junior to go faster is Mary Cain of New York, who went 1:59.51 at the 2013 Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Oregon.
The 2:00.11 by Dumas would have placed her sixth at the NCAA Division 1 Championships!
Oh, I almost forgot, about 2 hours after she won the 400 on Saturday Dumas split 2:03.90 to rally Eastern from sixth to second in a NJ No. 4 and U.S. No. 12 all-time 3:53.15!
WHERE DOES THIS RANK?
There has already been plenty of chatter about where this jaw-dropping performance by Dumas ranks all-time in U.S. high school history.
Well, I think it's fair to say that McLaughlin-Levrone making the 2016 U.S. Olympic team in the 400 hurdles as a 16-year-old at Union Catholic is the greatest single-race performance we've ever seen by a girl in U.S. high school history.
I also think it's equally fair to call this triple by Dumas, with the SMR anchor to go with it, the greatest all-round performance we've ever seen by a U.S. high school girl and one of the best by any female on any level!!!!
There just isn't anyone who can match the kind of range that Dumas has. Did you know that she's also run 4:55.66 for 1,600, 24.02 for 200, and ran 20:26 for 5K at Holmdel Park last fall!!!
She truly is one of one!!!!
