It looks like Eastern won the mixed 1,600-meter relay at Virginia Beach Nationals Friday night, but there are no names listed either in the entries or results.
With two boys and two girls, Eastern ran 3:35.10, breaking the meet record 3:39.71 set by Haverhill (Mass.) in 2023.
Thanks to the Eastern girls track and XC Twitter account for providing Eastern’s actual lineup. Ashton Gage did indeed lead off, splitting 50.56, then junior Poetry Anderson, who hadn’t run anything over a 200 all year, split 1:01.72, setting up half-miler Brandon Lamon, who split 50.26, with Natalie Dumas anchoring with a hot 52.56.
Presumably, Natalie Dumas was one of the girls on the Eastern team. The next-fastest female 400 runners at Eastern this year was Adriana Marella, so she may have run the other 400. She ran 61.20 back in December at Ocean Breeze but hasn’t raced in six weeks so maybe it wasn’t her.
On the guys side, Ashton Gage was likely one of the quarter-milers. Gage ran 49.58 at the Ott Center in January and just ran 21.92 for 200 meters two weeks at the Meet of Champions. The other guy on the team? Paul Moore was next-fastest over 400 meters this year for Eastern at 51.54 at the state Group 4 meet at the Bubble.
If anyone knows who actually ran for Eastern please let me know and I can update this post.
Either way, Dumas likely ran a very fast leg because if the two guys averaged 50.5 seconds and the second girl ran 61, that leaves a 53.1 for Natalie.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 
Per Eastern’s Twitter account, it was Ash Gage (50.56), Poetry Anderson (61.72), Brandon Lamon (50.26), and Natalie Dumas (52.56)
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