Dunbar, Dumar, Davis Dominate 2A Region 3 at Berkeley Prep

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"We were worried, Dunbar has an unbelievably good team," Berkeley coach Erik Lipham said. "But out of the field events, we were in the lead, we just had to hold on in the running events."

Dunbar was indeed closing in on Berkeley but a 1-2-4 showing in the 300m hurdle final, with you guessed it, Dumar leading the charge with a new school and personal record 44.27. Davis set a new PR taking second in the event at 45.11 and Rhea Thielbar took that fourth qualifying spot. It was a huge bounce-back from Dumar after she wiped out on the last hurdle of the 100m hurdle final but still managed to take second. Dumar landed flat on her chest just a couple meters in front of the finish line. An athlete with any less mental fortitude could have checked out after that. Not Dumar.

"She (Dumar) is the strongest, most mentally-tough athlete I've ever coached," Lipham said.

Dumar wasn't done at the 300m hurdle finals, either. She laced up for the 4x400m relay against very fast Lake Wales and Dunbar relays. 

"I noticed that they (Lake Wales) put their anchor leg runner (from districts) on the first leg, so I told the girls we'd be running from behind," Lipham said. "That being said, you never feel out of it when your two best athletes are your last legs of the relay."

So it went, Lake Wales put track between them and Berkeley on the first leg, they put what looked like an irrevocable lead on Berkeley handing off to the third leg. Davis closed up some of the gap but handed the baton to Dumar trailing by almost four seconds and at least 20 meters. It was fine. Berkeley had a big day, taking second was good. It was not good enough for Dumar who was running in her very last race on the Berkeley track. She was not going out in second place. Dumar took the baton and was like she was shot out of a cannon and didn't break that stride until she'd caught Lake Wales' Dashane Medina on the home stretch. The home stretch was an all out battle with both runners straining to reach that line. It would be Dumar in to win it with a 4:02.12, the seventh-best time in 2A this season. Medina was right there in 4:02.17. The Berkeley girls prevailed, amassing 126.50 points to Dunbar's 70.50. Dumar's split was an unoffical 57 seconds.

The Dunbar boys missed out on a team title last year, much to do with then freshman Seneca Milledge scratching out of the running finals with a hip injury. Coming into Thursday healthy, Milledge was a big reason why the Dunbar boys out-paced runner-up Lely 117-65. 

"After not making states last year, I'm very hungry for it this year," Milledge said. 

Milledge ate well on Thursday, winning the 100m in 10.52 after running a scorching 10.46 in the prelims. That 10.46 moves into the third best spot in 2A this season. Milledge also ran second leg on the winning 4x100m relay that ran a 41.22 for the third best time in 2A. He also took second in long jump. Teammate Desmond Davis took second in the 200m final behind a 21.93 from Antonio Barnes of Spoto (21.88) and anchored the 4x1 relay. Both Milledge and Davis are sophomores. However, regional titles are not won by sprinting alone. Only a team with some balance can pull of a team win at the regional level. That's just what Dunbar is evolving into.

"We've never had a distance team. Our goal was to get a cross country team and try to create some balance on the track team," Dunbar coach Guy Thomas said. "Through the 4x8 and 800 we were able to dilute the distance. That's something we've never had and next year we're going to start 1600 and 3200 runners. We just finally got a pole vault pit this year."

Thomas had high praise for his winning 4x800m relay of Trevor McDaniels, Ralph Claude, Terrill White and Damien Simmons. 800 meter runner Fenelus Wilder grabbed fourth and Claude fifth in the open 800m. Scary prospect for 2A boys teams with a young sprinting/field core and some developing distance athletes. 

Any meet quarter-mile stud Maiah Walker is in, she raises the bar for everyone around her. Walker also runs the shorter sprints and caught some competition there. In the 100m final, Walker and Tampa Catholic's Rachel Hagans dashed to a photo finish with both breaking personal records. Hagans won it with an 11.92, now the seventh-best time in 2A and Walker ran a personal best 11.94. The pair faced off in the 200m final but Walker was in no mood for second place as she ran a season best of 24.11. Walker was disappointed at not cracking 24 seconds but the 24.11 moves into the third best time in 2A. In the 400m, she was unassailable, breaking the tape at 54.25, the best mark in 2A, the third-best in Florida this season and a #19 time nationwide. It pulled Dunbar's Guerdine Michel to a personal record 57.69, Jefferson's Erykah Jerome to a 58.39 and Gibbs' fourth-place Ireoina Lightsey to a PR 58.95.

"I was disappointed in the 100 final, I should have dipped at the line, I thought I had her (Hagans)," Walker said. "Still, I got a PR so I'm happy about that."

The 1600m races were near mirror images of each other. In the girls race, Lakewood's Hannah McAuliffe hung on Lemon Bay's Kelsi Ogilvie for three-and-three-quarters laps. Finally, at the end of the last turn on the final lap, McAuliffe swung outside and legged out Ogilvie for the win in 5:20.57. In the boys race, Frostproof's Antonio Gomez pulled the same move in the same place against Lake Wales' Paul Stafford and won in personal record 4:18.33, the third fastest time in 2A this year. In a dose of irony, both 3200m races flipped that script with Ogilvie winning the girls 3200m in front of McAuliffe and Stafford winning the 3200m in front of Gomez.

Jefferson long jumper and D1 football recruit Deandre Hollins won the long jump at 7.00m (22-11.75) the fourth-best mark in 2A.

Tampa Catholic thrower Alise Davis bounced back from a DQ in the shot last year to win it on Thursday with a 12.25m (40-2.25). Davis used a heavier implement to warm up for shot last year and found out the hard way, that was grounds for disqualification. She made sure that didn't happen on Thursday.

"I didn't even bring my own implements this year," Davis said. "I thought about last year and just put it out there."

Davis also took second in the disc behind Lely's Laura Liberiste. 

A couple of Middleton runners availed themselves on Thursday with Neville Salmon winning the 110m hurdles in 15.22 and second in the 300m hurdles behind Jefferson's Dwayne Godwin (39.44). Teammate Cindy Desir won the 800m final in 2:21.57 surging out to a huge lead on the first lap and holding it for the second and the win. Spoto's 4x100m relay of Nicquel James, Lashanique Barnes, Miyah Cook and Monyette Montgomery went 48.96 in their first trip under 49 seconds this season.