Eastern senior Natalie Dumas made the long trip out to the Pacific Northwest a worthwhile one with a win in the 400-meter dash at the Brooks PR Invitational in Renton, Wash.
Dumas, who tied Sydney McLaughlin’s state-record 51.87 last month at South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals at Pennsauken, ran 52.40 Saturday at Renton Stadium outside Seattle, her 2nd-fastest time ever.
She won by a comfortable four meters over Maddison Brister-Wesley of Grovetown (Ga.) High. Brister-Wesley lowered her lifetime-best from 52.93 from a meet last month in Stockbridge, Ga., to 52.89 in 2nd place.
Dumas is No. 2 in the U.S. in the 400 at 51.87, No. 4 in the 800 at 2:02.75 and No. 1 in the 400 hurdles with 57.30.
Dumas is undefeatd this year in the 100, 400, 800 and intermediates. Her only two losses at any distance have been to Pennsauken junior Sianni Wynn in the 200 – the Meet of Champions winner and U.S. No. 10 – in the Group 4 sectional and state meets.
Next for Dumas is West Philly Nationals June 19-22 at Franklin Field, where she’ll likely race in the 400 hurdles and 800-meter sprint medley Friday, June 20, the flat 400 Saturday, June 21, and the 800 and possibly 4-by-4 on Sunday, June 22.
Timber Creek senior Ryan Jennings placed 4th in the 100 in 11.44 with a legal 1.2 meters-per-second tailwind. That’s only 9-100ths of a second off her season-best wind-legal 11.35 last month in Baltimore. Her lifetime best is 11.33 from Group 3 Sectionals last spring at Delsea.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 