Dunbar best in state

By Kevin Klott

Published: June 13th, 2009 09:53 PM Last Modified: June 13th, 2009 09:53 PM

Dunber takes third Kodiak's Trevor Dunbar captured third place Saturday in the Twilight Mile at the Portland Track Fest, a showcase showdown among 10 of the nation's top high school distance runners.

Mac Fleet of University City, Calif., won the race with a wickedly fast final two laps. Fleet finished in 4 minutes, 2.9 seconds, thanks to a 1:58 effort in the final half-mile.

Robby Andrews of New Jersey was second in 4:03.49 and Dunbar third in 4:06.65. Fourth place went to Oregon's Elijah Green, who clocked a 4:08.08.

Given the opportunity to become the first Alaska runner to break the nine-minute barrier for 3,200 meters, Dunbar's confidence soared as he raced in front of a hometown crowd on Kodiak Island.

He finished in 8 minutes, 51.5 seconds.

"Coming down the last lap, I gave it everything I had," he said. "I put all my focus into that race. I was mentally and physically exhausted."

At the time, Dunbar's performance was thought to be the best in the nation among high school runners, but on the same day, a prep runner in Illinois topped Dunbar's time by two-tenths of a second.

Dunbar's 8:51.5 still ranks as the second-best in the nation this season, which is one reason the senior is No. 1 in Alaska among sports writers who named him the 2009 Daily News Boys High School Athlete of the Year.

It's the first time a Kodiak athlete has been honored since the award's inception in 1989.

Dunbar's overwhelming superiority in cross-country running and track rendered him Alaska's most prestigious honor in high school athletics. He finished his senior season with three individual state titles: two in track and one in cross-country.

Last fall, Dunbar seized his third consecutive Class 4A state title in cross-country running. He capped his career by breaking the Palmer High course record he had set the previous season with a blazing five-kilometer run of 15 minutes, 7.8 seconds.

Dunbar padded his resume by demolishing a regional field in the 5-K Adidas Cross Country Classic in Portland. His time of 14:47.7 was the fastest time by an American high school boy, according to Dyestat.com. And at the Footlocker national championships in December, he finished second behind an Ethiopian runner. No Alaskan until then had finished better than 13th at that meet.

Dunbar is a regular visitor to Dyestat.com, scouring the Web site that tracks the nation's high school runners. He likes to see what kind of times his peers are posting and to use the information to calculate goals for himself.

"I've developed a love of running, testing my body to see how fast I can run," said Dunbar, 18. "I've gotten addicted to training."

This year had its ups and downs, though.

In January, Dunbar came up lame on his Achilles' tendon and had to stay off it for six weeks.

He bounced back to dominate the high school track season, posting state-best times in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters and winning the 3,200 and 1,600 at the state meet in Fairbanks.

Dunbar rocked at his final meet in Kodiak, the meet where he ran 8:51.5, a time 20 seconds faster than the existing 3,200 state record, a time that even would have wiped Don Clary's 1975 record in the two-mile off the books.

But state records can only be broken at state meets. A week before the championships, Dunbar was diagnosed with strep throat. He didn't have the strength to break the nine-minute barrier like he did in Kodiak.

But the season isn't over. Dunbar raced the mile late Saturday in Portland Track Invitational in a race that featured some of the swiftest runners in the nation.

He's also scheduled to race the 3,200 in the Nike Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina on Friday and the 5,000 at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

When the season is over, Dunbar is looking forward to going back to Kodiak to spend time with his family before heading off to the University of Portland.

He may even go for a training run with his dad and coach, Marcus Dunbar, a former U.S. champion in the indoor mile and a 10-time winner of the annual Heart Run.

The two have trained together since Trevor was in middle school. Back then, Trevor had trouble keeping up with his old man. These days, their roles have changed.

"I can't keep us with that boy anymore," Marcus said. "But I'm glad to say that."