Bethany Dumas Article (ME)

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http://sports.mainetoday.com/highschool ... id=2710674

Dumas continues to adjust to pole vault ascension
By SCOTT MARTIN
Staff Writer

Cony High School sophomore Bethany Dumas continues to progress in the pole vault and is approaching another barrier. Already the Class A state record holder in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault, Dumas has vaulted 11 feet.
Recently, she moved up to a bigger pole, hoping to clear 12 feet by the end of the season. Dumas has been practicing with a pole that is 13-feet-7, trying to adjust to the added length. To adjust, she spends a lot of time at practice running with the pole, like she is going to vault, but not actually vaulting.

In order to get the pole to bend properly, Dumas has to plant it when she is about 10 feet from the box, according to Cony assistant coach Taylor Harmon.

"Her not being very tall, she has to get a lot of speed (to bend the pole,)" Harmon said. At 5-3, Dumas is short for a pole vaulter. "To do that, you have to run with that pole."

In meets this spring, she has cleared 11 feet and in practice she has reached 11-6 as she closes in on her goal of 12 feet. Dumas´ training hit a minor speed bump last week when she experienced pain in her shins.

"It was a little twingy, so we had to pull her back," Harmon said.

Dumas is also competing in the javelin, the 100 hurdles and the long jump this spring. The javelin and hurdles are both familiar events for Dumas, who won the KVAC A title in the 100 hurdles and finished second to teammate Katie Rollins in the javelin.

But the long jump is completely new to her.

She´s taken to the event fairly well, jumping 15-0.25 in a meet at Maranacook last Friday. Harmon is hoping Dumas will be able to jump 17 feet by season´s end.

"The long jump, I haven´t done that very much," Dumas said. "I´m just starting out."

[rainbowgirl28]

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/s ... 4620.shtml

Dumas dominates, again

By SCOTT MARTIN
Staff Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.


BRUNSWICK --Bethany Dumas started her morning by winning the Class A state title in the javelin. The Cony High School sophomore ended by setting a state record of 11-feet-6 in the pole vault. In between she was pretty good too.

Dumas also finished third in the long jump and the 100-meter hurdles, setting personal records in all four events at the Class A state championships meet on Saturday at Bowdoin College's Whittier Field.

"This is, and I don't have any of my stuff here, but I can say pretty confidently, that this is the greatest individual achievement by any Cony girl track athlete at a state meet," Cony coach Shawn Totman said.

Originally, Dumas had planned to be competing at the New England Interscholastic Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, but torrential rains last Saturday forced the meet to be pushed ahead a week.

Dumas was at her best at the end of the meet, in the pole vault, but her day couldn't have started any better. After running in a 100-meter hurdles prelim, Dumas jogged over to the javelin area and unleashed the two best throws of the day, including the winning toss of 119-01.

"I was just like, 'Oh, this is the last time,'" Dumas said of her throw in the javelin. "I was rushed a little bit, but I felt like I had time to get ready."

After her win in the javelin, Dumas rushed back to the 100 hurdles for the finals. She finished third there with a time of 16.00 behind Sanford's Drielle Mitchell (15.29) and Scarborough's Annie Mills (15.88).

She then had a little time to rest before competing in the long jump, an event she picked up earlier this season and rarely practices. Even with little time to work on her form, Dumas excelled, jumping 16-4.75, good for third.

"I felt really pretty good in the long jump," Dumas said. "I actually didn't think I was going to make the finals. I was real excited when I did."

Then it was off to the pole vault, an event Dumas dominates. When she started vaulting, at 10-0, there was only one other vaulter still in contention. Gorham's Leigh Maniscalco failed in three attempts to clear 10-0. Dumas cleared it on her second attempt, so all that was left was to see if she could clear 12-0, a height she has been shooting for all spring.

Working with a couple of different poles, Dumas easily cleared 10-6 and 11-0 before missing on her first two attempts at 11-3. On her third attempt at 11-3, Dumas nicked the bar with her stomach on the way down, but it stayed on the standards. She then missed twice at 11-6 before easily clearing that height on her third jump. She attempted 11-9 three times, but came up short.

Dumas said she felt like she vaulted high enough to clear the height, but wasn't able to get close enough to the bar to get over it when attempting 11-9.

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http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/s ... 5356.shtml

Cony sophomore sensation Dumas not done yet

By SCOTT MARTIN
Staff Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

Sometimes, it is difficult to remember that Bethany Dumas just finished her sophomore year. In her short career as a track and field athlete at Cony High School, Dumas already has won three outdoor individual state titles and six Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A individual titles. She is also the state record holder in the pole vault.

After a tremendously successful freshman season, Dumas was even better as a sophomore. She won the Class A title in the pole vault, breaking her own state record with a height of 11-feet-6, and the javelin. She also took third in the state meet in the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump, an event she picked up this spring.

For her success, Dumas was named the Kennebec Journal Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Hall-Dale High School sophomore Laura Peterson and Winthrop High School senior Melissa Nguyen were also considered.

"We need to remember she has two more years of high school in indoor and outdoor track," Cony coach Shawn Totman said. "That's four more seasons of track."

Totman brought up that point when asked if a career in the heptathlon may be in Dumas' future. The heptathlon (which consist of the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200, long jump, javelin and 800) is not an event at Maine high school meets, but it is something Dumas might consider for college. It is only natural, because she has had so much success in so many events.

Take, for example, the long jump. Dumas decided to try it this winter while competing at a jump meet at the University of Southern Maine.

"I guess I was pretty good at it," Dumas remembered.

She picked the event up quick and was at her best at the Class A state championship meet when she jumped a personal best 16-4.75.

"We kicked it around last year, but we didn't want to overload her," Totman said of Dumas in the long jump. "We realized early on the pole vault, javelin and hurdles were events she'd do really well in."

She did really well in everything at the state meet, setting personal records in every event. She started the day by finishing third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.00 seconds. She then rushed over to the javelin, where she won with a throw of 119-1. She added a third-place finish in the long jump before blowing by the field in the pole vault with an 11-6.

Of course, those who know Dumas know how goal-oriented she is, and while she is happy with the way the state meet went, she has a few things she would have liked to have gone better.

"In the pole vault, I was really looking for 12 feet," Dumas said. "In the javelin I was looking for 120 and got 119. In the hurdles, I was hoping to break 16. Long jump, I didn't really have a goal, but I was hoping to get as close to 17 feet as I could."

Totman said that drive to reach her goals, as well as a terrific support system, have made Dumas as good as she is. Totman credits the Cony coaching staff, Dumas' parents Sarah and Pat, and pole vaulting coach Paul Snyder as key contributors to Bethany's success.

"It has really been a group effort," Totman said. "A lot of people have put in a lot of time. And she has put in the most."