Eastern junior Natalie Dumas won her 3rd Meet of Champions title Sunday and demolished a 22-year-old South Jersey record along the way.
Dumas won the 400-meter dash at the 57th annual Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island in 53.55, the 4th-fastest time in state history and nearly three-quarters of a second faster than the South Jersey indoor record of 54.24 set in 2003 by Willingboro’s Okechi Ogbuokiri when she won the 400 at 2003 Armory Nationals.
The only girl to run faster in Meet of Champions history is Olympic gold medalist and 400 hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic, who won the 2016 race at the Bubble in 53.34 and the 2017 race in 53.17, both in Toms River.
The fastest previous time at a Meet of Champions by a South Jersey girl is a 55.19 by Oakcrest’s Nijgia Snapp when she won the 2008 race, also in Toms River.
Dumas displayed rare range this year, running 24.41 for 200 meters and 2:11.42 for 800 meters. But she chose the 400 for Meet of Champions and it paid off with the fastest time by a New Jersey quarter-miler since Olympic 800 gold medalist Athing Mu of Trenton ran 52.55 in 2018.
Her indoor 400 PR going in was a 54.45 in January at the Ott Center. She ran a lifetime-best 53.16 to win the Meet of Champions last spring at Pennsauken as part of a rare double that saw her also win the 400 hurdles in 58.32. Both times were No. 7 in state history at the time. She went on to win the 400 intermediates at West Philly Nationals in 58.32 the nezt day, 4th-fastest in state history.
In the 400 Sunday, she took on Taylor Aska of Union Catholic, who ran 53.90 last spring and 54.01 indoors last month; Gina Certo of Academy of the Holy Angels, who was 2nd to Dumas in last year’s outdoor MoC in 54.70; and Willingboro‘s Nester Wea, the state Group 2 champ last week.
Dumas started at the top of the track in Lane 6 and Wea and Aska both went out very fast. But Dumas turned on the jets on the second turn and strode in front of Wea and Aska at the break, hitting the 200 in 25.10, already with a three-meter lead. And she just poured it on from there running the second lap unchallenged, with her lead growing to 10 meters by the finish.
Aska finished 2nd in 54.85, Certo was 3rd in 55.47 and Wea 4th in 55.52, 9th-fastest in South Jersey history. The race produced four of the 12-fastest times in meet history.
Winslow sophomore Cinniya Robinson and Paul VI junior Claire Magee made it four South Jersey runners in the top 10. Robinson ran 56.81 for 8th and Magee 56.96 for 10th.
According to the MileSplit national database, Dumas’s time is No. 2 in the U.S. this winter, behind only junior Brooke Lloyd of Humble (Texas) Summer Creek High. Lloyd ran 53.45 in a meet in Lubbock in January.
Dumas also ran a 54.17 anchor leg on Eastern’s 4th-place 1,600-meter relay team. Junior Adriana Marella senior Samantha Osei-Kyei and senior Jasmine Davies ran the first three legs. Eastern ran 3:54.64, lowering the school record from 3:54.69 from the 2023 Meet of Champions.
Dumas is Eastern’s 4th Meet of Champions winner, following English Gardner [55 in 2007 and 2010, 400 in 2007], Courtney McCrudden [800 in 2000] and Jailya Ash [55 in 2019, hurdles in 2020]
All-Time New Jersey Indoor 400 List
51.61 … Sydney McLaughlin [Union Catholic], 2017
52.55 … Athing Mu [Trenton], 2018
53.49 … Olivia Baker [Columbia], 2014
53.55 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2025
53.73 … Julia Jackson [Scotch Plains-Fanwood], 2022
54.01 … Taylor Aska [Union Catholic], 2025
54.24 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.45 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2025
54.64 … Mikele Barber [Montclair], 1998
54.70 … Janine Davis [Queen of Peace], 2003
54.91 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
54.98 … Tawana Watkins [Paterson Kennedy], 2002
55.16 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
55.19 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2010
55.19 … Brooke’lyn Drakeford [Piscataway], 2023
55.21 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
55.32 … Amber Allen [Passaic Vo Tech], 2009
55.34 … Symone O’Connor [Franklin Twp.], 2006
55.42 … Jennifer Edobi [Union], 2014
55.47 … Gina Certo [Academy of Holy Angels], 2025
55.49 … Kristen Mahon [Notre Dame], 2006
55.49 … Victoria Vanriele [Governor Livingston], 2019
55.52 … Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2025
55.53 … Rhia Randolph [Union Catholic], 2024
55.4h … English Gardner [Eastern], 2008
55.58 … Sofia Swindell [Lawrenceville School], 2025
55.59 … Tiffany Grant [Ocean Twp.], 2006
55.65 … Gina Certo [Academy of Holy Angels], 2024
55.6h … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1984
55.6h … Emily Carrollo [Pope John], 2008
55.75 … Emilie Cowan [Columbia], 2014
55.79 … Kaira Brown [Kent Place], 2019
55.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2016
55.88 … Sydney Chadwick [Union Catholic], 2025
55.91 … Ajee Wilson [Neptune], 2011
55.94 … Sam Anderson [Matawan], 2014
55.95 … Natalie Englese [Cranford], 2010
55.97 … Reagan Moore [Oak Knoll], 2025
All-Time South Jersey Indoor 400-Meter Dash List
53.55 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2025
54.24 … Okechi Ogbuokiri [Willingboro], 2003
54.91 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
55.16 … Krystal Cantey [Winslow Twp.], 2006
55.19 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2008
55.21 … Aliyah Taylor [Rancocas Valley], 2017
55.51 … Sianni Wynn [Pennsauken], 2023
55.52 … Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2025
55.4h … English Gardner [Eastern], 2008
55.6h … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1984
55.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2016
56.19 … Nylah Perry [Winslow], 2020
56.21 … Dana Burnett [Williamstown], 1997
56.34 … Katrina Sye [Buena], 1997
56.44 … Avionne Sloan [Camden], 2006
56.44 … Dahlia Beasley [Washington Twp.], 2024
56.56 … Ryan Jennings [Timber Creek], 2025
56.59 … Jasmine Jackson [Winslow Twp.], 2025
56.62 … Ste’yce McNeil [Winslow Twp.], 2012
56.65 … Britney Kott [Millville], 2009
56.76 … Simone Thomas [Willingboro], 2003
56.78 … Ajae Alvarez-Tyler [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2018
56.81 … Cinniya Robinson [Winslow Twp.], 2025
56.85 … Emily Duffey [Lenape], 2012
56.85 … Nylah Perry [Winslow], 2020
56.88 … Marcene Jack [Mainland Reg.], 2004
56.88 … Amariah Arango [Winslow Twp.], 2025
56.90 … Nadia Davy [Bridgeton], 1999
56.96 … Claire Magee [Paul VI], 2025
56.98 … Jade Pope [Pennsauken], 2020
Fastest 400 Times in Meet History
53.17 … Sydney McLaughlin [Union Catholic], 2017 [1]
53.34 …….. McLaughlin, 2016 [1]
53.35 … Natalie Dumas [Eastern], 2025 [1]
53.72 …….. McLaughlin, 2015 [1]
54.09 … Olivia Baker [Columbia], 2014 [1]
54.72 …….. Baker, 2013 [1]
54.85 … Taylor Aska [Union Catholic], 2025 [2]
55.19 … Nijgia Snapp [Oakcrest], 2008
[1]
55.45 … Mikele Barber [Montclair], 1998 [1]
55.47 … Gina Certo [Academy of the Holy Angels], 2025 [3]
55.51 … Brooke’lyn Drakeford [Piscataway], 2023 [1]
55.52 … Nester Wea [Willingboro], 2025 [4]
55.53 … Rhia Randolph [Union Catholic], 2024 [1]
55.91 … Kaira Brown [Kent Place], 2019 [1]
55.74 …….. Snapp, 2009 [1]
55.74 … Amber Allen [Passaic County Tech], 2008 [2]
55.75 … Emile Cowan [Columbia], 2014 [2]
55.7h … Denise Mitchell [Edgewood], 1984 [1]
55.83 … Kiara Lester [Deptford], 2016 [2]
55.88 … Michelle Brown [Seneca], 2009 [2]
55.95 …….. Allen, 2009 [3]
55.96 …….. Brown, 2010 [1]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 