Eastern junior Natalie Dumas, the national intermediate hurdles champ as a sophomore, opened her 2024-25 season Saturday with a 200-meter dash PR and a speedy 400 leg on the Vikings’ 4-by-4.
In the 200 at the SJTCA meet at the Ott Center inh West Philly, Dumas finished 3rd behind Sianni Wynn and Ryan Jennings, who ran 23.79 and 23.93 for the 1st- and 3rd-fastest times in state history. Dumas ran 24.93, 6th-fastest in New Jersey this year and a big PR. She had never broken 26 seconds indoors, and her outdoor PR was a 25.29 at last year’s Camden County Championships at Haddon Township, where she placed 2nd to Wynn.
That 24.93 is the fastest FAT time in school history, although Jennifer Jackson ran a hand-timed 24.5 at the 2003 Varsity Classic at the Armory. The previous-fastest FAT time was a 25.09 by Jewel Ash at the 2020 Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze.
Surprisingly, Olympic sprinter English Gardner never ran faster than 25.75 in high school. That was at the 2008 Hispanic Games at the Armory.
But Dumas’s best work Saturday came in the 4-by-4, which she anchored in 54.28. Junior Adriana Marella, senior Jasmine Davies and sophomore Poetry Anderson also ran for Eastern, who won the race in 4:07.62.
Other splits of note: Pennsauken junior 2nd leg Olivia Dupree 60.06, Pennsauken junior anchor Sanaya Dupree 60.26, Mainland senior anchor Ava McDole 60.59 and Atlantic County Tech sophomore anchor Violet Golden 60.76.
Dumas ran 53.16 outdoors last spring to win the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken. Her indoor 400 PR is 56.72 in March at Ocean Breeze.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 