Dunn not done yet

Saturday, May 23 | 11:24 p.m.

by Greg Jayne

The Columbian (Vancouver, Wa)

For Colton Dunn, the epiphany came four years ago, when the talent and the skill and the meaning of it all suddenly came together.

"At the end of eighth grade, I went down to the University of Oregon and I was reading this book about Steve Prefontaine," the Hockinson senior said. "That's when it clicked in: I have something really special that I don't want to go to waste."

That something is the ability to run fast.

And the ability to power through turns.

And the desire to endure workouts that call for running a 23-second 200 meters, jogging for 10 seconds, and running another 23-second 200.

"That doesn't usually end that well — bleeeccchhhhh," Dunn said.

But as Dunn heads toward the climax of his high school career in next week's Class 2A state meet, what makes him compelling is not so much the defense of his 200-meter championship.

No, what makes him compelling is his singular quest in the 400.

Because that's the race in which Dunn finished second at state as a freshman. And second as a sophomore. And second yet again as a junior.

It is the race that has been his own personal Moby Dick, and it's a test of will as much as it is a test of speed.

Because the 400 meters is the track and field equivalent of purgatory, a temporary state of suffering and misery. They call it a sprint, as if the human body were designed to maintain top speed for a quarter-mile; they might as well call it waterboarding.

At last year's state meet, Dunn was chased down in the stretch and finished a step behind Prosser's Cade Wandling. Throw in a second-place finish the previous year in the 200, and another second place in last year's 100, and Dunn had five runner-up finishes — and no state titles.

"When you've put all this work into track and see that smashed down," he said, "frustrating isn't the word for it."

Such is the inherent drama of individual sports. There's nobody to siphon off the thrill of victory, yet there's nobody with whom to share the agony of defeat.

"I feel like coming in second," Dunn said, "is almost worse than coming in last. It makes me work harder."

That work finally paid off a year ago.

Amid the state's best athletes last year, Dunn finally got to taste victory in the 200 meters. He won by 0.01 seconds, shattering the state-meet record and posting a time that would have won the Class 4A title.

"That's one of the races that got colleges interested in me," said Dunn, who has signed with the University of Washington. "One coach came up after that race and said, 'That's all I needed to see.'"

So, far all that he has accomplished in track and field, for all the national meets in which he has competed and all of his success at the state level, Dunn has no difficulty drumming up motivation.

It's just that, now, with that single state title on his résumé, that motivation has changed.

"I want them to realize I'm there for a reason, realize I'm going Division I for a reason," he said. "I just don't want any excuse to do bad. It's up to me; I put the work into it."

Sounds as if that epiphany has had a lingering impact.