TD's Dunn qualifies for national championship

The Region 13 meet was held July 7-10 at Hanford High School in Richland, Wash. The top eight finishers at regionals qualified for the USATF National Championship, July 25-31, in Sacramento, Calif.

Dunn, a two-time district long jump champion during the high school season, said she will decide this week if she will attend nationals after talking with her track club coach, Christina Whitney. “I’m going to go down to Portland … and talk with my coach about what the team is going to do,” Dunn said, alluding — in part — to the expense of the trip.

Nationals or not, her extended track and field season has been one to remember — including the blistering hot weather at regionals. “It was hot; it got up to 95 Saturday afternoon,” she said of the Tri Cities’ temperature during the triple jump competition. “It was fun; there were a lot (of athletes) from Washington that I’d never competed with before.”

The regional meet included athletes from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

She took six jumps in the triple, with her 35-foot plus mark coming despite the heat and a nagging leg injury. “I found out it’s my IT band,” she said. “The pain is kind of moving down to my knee a little bit.

“It was a little worse because I triple jumped on Saturday and long jumped Sunday. Normally it doesn’t bother me during long jump, but it definitely did (Sunday).”

Dunn was second in the age 18U triple jump and third in the long jump at the June 23-26 Oregon Junior Olympic Championships in Gresham. Dunn also ran a leg on the third place 18U 4x100 meter relay team, which also qualified for the regional meet but did not compete.

“Two of our girls couldn’t make it,” Dunn said. “We only have four girls on our team in the 17-18 age division, so we didn’t have any substitutes.”

Oregon City High’s Sophia Beckman, the 2022 OSAA 6A long jump champion, won the Region 13 title with a mark of 20-0.25. West Linn High’s Anika Sukumar, the 2022 OSAA 6A triple jump champ, won that event at regionals with a best of 38-11.

For Dunn, once summer track and field is over, she’ll start preparing for the fall volleyball season at The Dalles High. “(I go) right into volleyball pretty much,” she said. “My volleyball coach is pretty excited with how track is going for me.”

And so are her teammates. The nucleus of the Riverhawks’ 2022 track and field team were underclassmen. “They want to start lifting in the winter, I know,” Dunn said, looking ahead to the 2023 spring season. “Our team’s been talking about it, getting into the weight room at the high school.”