Natalie Dumas gives her top 7 college choices

You are comparing University of Miami football to the absolute bottom barrel of big 10 track athletics. Yes there is talent in jersey but Rutgers is not even in the same wheelhouse to have the pull to attract a once of a lifetime athlete like Dumas. Carl Lewis went to Houston to get coached by Tellez and the rest was history.

Also you don’t think that is already Rutgers entire strategy for recruiting? It’s all they do. Their whole job is trying to convince Jersey kids that are better than their program to stay and train in a trash city, versus programs with more successful coaches in places with far more favorable training environments and WAY more successful teams.

What does Rutgers have for Dumas? Great you stay in home in Jersey. You get to wake up in beautiful New Brunswick and train with nobody because their entire girls team is nowhere near Dumas and she still has a year left of high school to continue getting faster than all of them. She’s ELEVEN seconds faster than the nearest 800 girl on her best day this past outdoor season.

I for one am even surprised she has Duke and Vanderbilt even on the post. Those two programs should use that in itself to even take as a win.

Does anyone know what Dumas does in the fall? Does she run XC? Soccer(it is a fall sport in NJ)? or nothing?

Last fall Dumas ran xc and she said that she was going to run xc this fall too. (But she was kind of worn out after the USA Championships, so it's possible that she could start her xc season a little later this year.)

I think she played soccer the first two years. Last fall she ran XC - and ran very well for a 400/800 runner - 18:49 on a fairly flat course and 20:26 on a very challenging course (Holmdel). I think I read somewhere that she was not 100% (sick) for a good part of the XC season. She also ran 4:55 in her one 1600 race of the spring.

That list is all over the place. How is UM on that list? Where does NIL come into the track recruiting space now? We are living in a world of football and basketball handing out money to entice recruits but we have to idea what is allocated to other sports. Does her Nike deal then guarantee she does to a Nike school?

No, Natalie Dumas doesn't have to go to a Nike school. There are a lot of runners who have NIL deals from a different sponsor than the sponsor of their school's team.

Like many who post here! ND is not a student…. Title says it all…ND, if not a phenomenal athlete she likely could not be admitted to any of those schools…..choosing NEP over NB/NIL shows someone is on the ball…NEP/NIKE will do more for her than anyone else…..just ask Cooper who asked to remain a NEP athlete!

Intelligence aside, she is seriously Olympic-gold type talent. Even if that doesn't work out, she can always refocus and go back to school somewhere more academically-minded with the track money someone of her talent level will presumably make.

She will end up at UgA

Why not let Oregon roll out the red carpet and hear out uncle Phil?

Oregon doesn't coach 400/800 runners anymore. Jerry Schumacher is only interested in 800/1500/5k types.

Duke and Vanderbilt are the only two schools in the list with an academic reputation.

Other people have made the same incorrect comment but none of them bothered to check the schedules of the SEC Conference and NCAA Championship meets.

Dumas obviously can't run the 400 hurdles indoors so at a maximum she could only run 400 and 800 indoors at the same championship meet. And even that double is unlikely considering that the 400 and 800 are typically run very close together at indoor championship meets. That's why Athing Mu ran either the 400 or the 800 but not both on the same day at championship meets.

At the outdoor NCAA Championships, the 400, 400 hurdles, and 800 are typically run in a 30 to 40 minute period, so tripling is out. Britton Wilson tried to double in the 400 and 400 hurdles at the NCAA Championships a few years ago and that didn't go that well, so Dumas might not even double.

Dumas might double at the outdoor SEC Championships, but the SEC Championships are more spread out timewise than the NCAA Championships.

So anyone claiming that Dumas will be forced by her college coaches to run a ton of races in order for her college to win championships is incorrect. The time schedules at college championship meets don't allow it.

Natalie Dumas has now visited all 7 schools on her list, but she hasn't commented on which schools she liked and which ones she didn't.

If she wants a college where she can go pro before her 4 years is up, but still stay on campus and get her degree while training with other pros, then Arkansas and Florida are probably her best choices.

Even with an NIL deal I don't see Dumas running for a college team for 4 years. It's hard to run a full NCAA schedule in the winter and spring and then run in pro meets all summer.

Arkansas and Florida would be the WORST choices.