Jacob Dumford
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School: |
Westerville North, Westerville, OH |
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HS Class: |
2013 |
Personal Bests
- 1,600 Meter Run 4:13.17
- 2,000 Meter Steeplechase 6:26.96
- 3,200 Meter Run 9:33.37
- Three Mile Run 17:28.00
- 400 Meter Dash 57.88
- 5,000 Meter Run 15:15.27
- 800 Meter Run 1:51.15
Westerville North Senior Jacob Dumford is one of the State's leading middle distance runners. He was 2nd this past Fall in the D1 State XC meet to Tippacanoe's Sam Wharton, the Nike National Champion. As a sophomore he placed 3rd in the State D1 800 and as a Junior he placed 2nd in the D1 800 to Lancaster's Brannon Kidder, arguably one of the best middle distance runners in Ohio history. He ran 5th in the New Balance National's 800 last Spring with a time of 1:51.15. This year he has set high goals for himself and he is poised to take the top spot on the podium in the 800 and possibly the 1600 as well. He's motivated, analytical and is preparing himself to do what he enjoys - to "run fast!"
OHRunners: Jacob, before we talk about the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons, let’s talk briefly about last Fall’s XC season. Individually you were second in a time of 15:17.61, just 7 seconds back of Sam Wharton. Your Westerville North team was 4th. What were your individuall expectations going into the State meet? What were your team expectations?
Jacob: We knew going into the State meet that St. X would be pretty tough to beat, so we weren’t very optimistic about beating them, but we did think 2nd was very attainable. So, that was the realistic goal, and I think that we could have accomplished that on the right day. Our 5th guy, Evan Larrick, had some hip flexor problems at the end of the year. He wasn’t 100%, but he thought he was getting better and would be fine to run so he ran at State. He didn’t run at Regionals. That, however, didn’t go very well. Although he finished the race, he could barely walk after it. If he would have been healthy, it could have been a big swing for us. Individually, I went into the race with the same mindset as I went into the season. If I lose to Sam, I’ll be content. If I lose to anyone else, I’ll be disappointed in myself. I had arguably the best workout of my life the week of the state meet, so coming off of that, I really thought I could win. As I look back at how the season panned out, I realize that I had very little chance of ever beating Sam. I do think I could have made it a better race had I gone out a little harder the first mile though.
OHRunners: Let’s move on to track now. As one of the State’s leading middle distance runners, how do you view yourself in regards to running the 5K versus a 1600 or 800? Is your preference on the track?
Jacob: To me, there’s no contest. I have historically been much better at the shorter races, as my times have shown and I’d much rather be on the track. XC is a great sport and very tough, but for me it’s no contest, I consider myself a track guy. In XC, times are unpredictable as there are so many variables. Track removes many of the variables. Going to big meets during cross season is great, but there’s nothing like the atmosphere of a track meet. I love the hard surface, the thrill of running fast, the variety of remarkable athletes: sprinters, jumpers, and throwers. They all come together in one place for an exciting combination. I do like running the longer stuff occasionally and I’d like to run a 3200 this spring, but I doubt I will get the chance.
OHRunners: When did you first start running? What did you run?
Jacob: I started running in 7th grade when I joined the cross country team. In track, I ran the mile. I didn’t run an 800 before my freshman year.
OHRunners: What did you run the mile in in the 7th grade? What was your 800 your freshman year?
Jacob: In 7th grade my mile PR was 5:28. I think. I don’t remember for sure. In 8th grade, I remember breaking 5 for the first time in my last race of the year, which was really exciting for me. I ran 4:56, which was a 17 second PR at the time. So going into high school I figured I would run the mile, but my coach, Tom, being the genius he is, had decided I was an 800 runner half way through cross season my freshman year. So my first race of freshman track was an 800. My 2:17 didn’t convince very many people that I was going to be a good 800 runner, but I kept running it a lot, and by the end of the season, I ran 1:57 at Regionals, both as a relay split and in the open.
OHRunners: It appears that you decided to concentrate on the 800 as a sophomore? When was this decision made?
Jacob: In the past year or so, I feel that I have developed a lot in the mile, but, back in my sophomore year the only race I thought I was good at was the mile. When I ran 1:52 at the State meet that year, I believe my PR in the 1600 was somewhere around 4:30. The 800 just gave me the best opportunity to be successful at the Regional and State level.
OHRunners: What is your 400 speed? Your PR is shown at 57.88, but I would expect with your 800 times that you are capable of running 50 or sub 50?
Jacob: I believe my PR on MileSplit is from an indoor meet sophomore year, because I haven’t run an open 400 since then. I split 49 a couple times last year on our 4X4.
OHRunners: You PR’d in the Pickerington Regional last year with 4:13.17, running 2nd to Lancaster’s Brannon Kidder who ran 4:09.98, breaking Westerville North graduate Bob Kennedy’s 1988 record of 4:10.63. Your Regional time ranked you with the 7th fastest 1600 time in the State. Only Kidder and Tsehaye Hiluff of Reynoldsburg were faster in D1. In the D1 1600 you would have had the 2nd fastest time, as Hiluff was the defending 3200 champion and was not going to run the 1600. You decided to forego the 1600 at State and concentrate on the 800. What were your thoughts in making this decision?
Jacob: After making it out of Regionals in both the 1600 and the 800, my coach and I decided to go with the 800 only at State because we thought it was my best shot at winning a State championship. As we saw at the end of last year, Kidder was almost unbeatable running the mile fresh. I thought that coming off the mile he would be more tired, and I would have a shot at the title in the 8.
OHRunners: The 1600/800 double in any division at State is difficult. After winning the 1600 in 4:14.03, Kidder came back and won the 800 in 1:51.09. You were second in 1:53.02. I’m not sure of the actual splits, but Kidder ran negative splits as he was 13th through the 400. You were on the inside lane around 5th or 6th. Can you take us through your last 400? Kidder ran the back straight hard and took the lead going into the turn. What were your thoughts when he passed you? What were your thoughts as you entered the straight to the finish?
Jacob: Long story short, I just had a bad race on the day of the state meet. I was mentally prepared and ready to go, but something had to have been going on with me physically. I was right where I wanted to be going into the last lap, and I’m usually able to close pretty well, but coming around the last curve I just had nothing left and had to settle for second. After the race, I felt really sick. They brought us over to the podium and gave us our medals, and the second they released us I walked over to a trash can and started throwing up like crazy. And that was the first time I had ever thrown up after a race, so something must have been wrong with me that day.
OHRunners: You told me that this year you hope to get an invitation to run the 800 in the Brooks PR in February and to run at least one 800 and one 4 X 800 here in Ohio to qualify for the OATCCC Indoor Championships. Coming off of a strong XC season and a great base, how will you prepare for an early, hard 800 such as the Brooks? Will you just use your base and natural speed or will you start to do some speed work? We have not had the best weather here in Central Ohio. Are you working out on the track, or indoors? What type of workouts are you doing at this time in terms of distance and speed?
Jacob: My coach confirmed with Brooks that I will be getting my invitation this week, so I will for sure be running the 800 at Brooks on February 26th. We are planing to run the 4X8 at the Central District Indoor Meet the week before indoor state. I’ll run the 800 and the 4x8 at indoor state. Right now, I am not doing any kind of workouts whatsoever. This probably won’t change for another month. We keep all of our running easy and don’t do any quality work until at least February, and then it’s relatively light until March or April when we really start to hammer things. Right now, I’m actually on the swim team at my school, so my mileage is fairly low. I’m swimming 5 days a week and running 5 days a week. We try really hard not to emphasize indoor at all. I won’t be doing much of anything to prepare for any indoor races. I’ll run them to the best of my abilities, but the goal is for all of our best races to be in May and June. As for inside vs. outside, all of my runs are done outside, regardless of weather. I had to run on a treadmill one day due partly to weather and partly to procrastination on my part and hated it. I’d rather run through the snow and ice than have to train indoors.
OHRunners: . Last year, WN had a very good 4 x 800 team. The team was composed of yourself, Junior’s Kent Ford and Nick Chatel and Senior Emanuel Adu. You won a tough, fast, Pickerington Regionals, running a new record of 7:42.48 and besting the eventual State winning Lancaster team. At State, you were 3rd, running 7:50.66 to Lancaster’s winning 7:44.88. Take us through the legs of the State finals? What were your thoughts when you got the baton? As you look forward to the upcoming seasons, both Kent and Nick return. Adu was a strong 400 and 800 runner. Who will be his replacement?
Jacob: This is a bit of a sore subject for me, because in my time at North, I have been on 3 Regional champion relays and 2 Regional champion XC teams, and have never won a State championship. Not becasue of any one individual. It's just disappointing working so hard, being so close, and not winning. Last year at State About 3 minutes into the 4X8, I knew we weren’t going to win. Our lead off leg didn’t have as strong of a leg as we would have liked, and our first baton exchange got caught up in traffic and cost us another couple seconds. When I got the baton, I believe I was in 8th place, and Lancaster was probably 5 seconds ahead, so I knew I couldn’t win. All I could do was try to pass as many people as possible. For this year, I am really excited about our 4X8. Definitely more excited about it than anything I do individually. It’s my favorite track event, and I think we’re going to be hard to beat. Losing Eman will be a big blow, but Nick and Kent are fairly new to the 800 and have a lot of room for improvement. The 4th spot on our relay is still undecided, but I think the most likely candidate will be Evan Larrick, who was our 5th man in cross, with a close second being Kevin Schaublin, who ran track for the first time last year and gave us some really strong 4X4 splits.
OHRunners: . In the outdoor season you have indicated, based on last year’s 1600 and 800 times, that at this time you think you will go for the double. You certainly would be the favorite in both of those events this year. If you were to concentrate on only one, would it be the 1600 or the 800?
Jacob: I would probably have to go with the 800, because although I think I’m developing a lot as a miler, I’m still a much stronger 800 meter runner.
OHRunners: The 800, in my opinion is one of the toughest events on the track. In the past, the event was considered a distance event, with milers dropping down. Today, it has become a speed event with many 400 runners moving up. The current Jesse Owens Stadium record is 1:50.77 set in 2008 by Cory Leslie of Sandusky Perkins. The All Time Ohio record was set in 2001 by Mark Sylvester of St. Ignatius, in a time of 1:48.93. You have run 1:51.15. What are your thoughts on these records? What are your goals for this year? Is sub 1:50 reachable?
Jacob: I’m setting really high goals for this year. They’re going to be ones that I think I’m capable of but only on the perfect day. If I was going to focus on the 800 and only run one event at the State meet, I would say I am confident that I could break the Jesse Owens Stadium record, but running the 1600 earlier in the day will make that challenging. Rather than focusing my efforts on times, I’m going to make most of my goals based on place; however it is a goal of mine to break 1:50 this year. I wasn’t able to run this fast in an open ever, but at Regionals in the 4X8 I split 1:50.4, so based on that, I think with a good race, on a good day, I should be able to break 1:50 this year.
OHRunners: How would you describe yourself as a runner? What motivates Jacob?
Jacob: As a runner, I’m very analytical. I think about every workout I do. I think about the things I eat. I like to try to figure out how everything fits together to make me run however fast or slow I do on a given day. But the interesting thing about that is that on race day, when that gun goes off it’s like a switch is flipped and there’s just nothing. I don’t think about my training or what I ate that morning or when I’m going to see my girlfriend next. I just run. And that’s what motivates me: The thrill of figuring out how to be fast, the numbers of it all. When you win a race, part of it is running harder than the guy next to you, but that’s not all. Not everyone is prepared to run fast. When you win a race, you didn’t just win the race. You won the game of “Who can figure out how to prepare themselves the best to run fast?” And that’s what is exciting to me. Maybe it’s the math geek in me, but I love that.
OHRunners: As you look back over your High School career thus far, is there any advice you could give to younger runners?
Jacob: I want to try to give the younger guys hope that they can achieve just as much or more than me.
