Kodiak High School graduate Trevor Dunbar did something Monday night in Portland that no other Alaskan – not even his father – had ever accomplished: He ran a mile under four minutes. His time of 3-minutes 59.06-seconds came in the Portland Roughrider Twilight Meet.
Dunbar told an interviewer from the running website Flo-Track that he was thankful to have runner Robb Finnerty pushing him.
“I was just happy to have him and race it into the line,” he said. “Hey … thinking I could run a little bit faster, but the goal was just sub-four, and I’m happy.”
Finnerty, a runner for the Wisconsin Badgers, was just a third of a second behind Dunbar.
Trevor’s dad Marcus, a long time competitive runner and coach in Alaska, was there at the race to watch his youngest son set a mark that he had once dreamt of.
“Well, it’s been a long time coming. I made several attempts myself, and came up short every time, so it’s vindication to have Trevor,” Marcus Dunbar said. “Especially since no Alaskan’s ever done it. You know, I kinda wanted that to be at one time, but there’s been a lot of guys who came before me and guys that came after me, but we all came up short. It’s good to see Trevor getting it done.”
For his part, Trevor honored his dad by wearing his old high school jersey in the meet.
“Definitely a special one. I knew the season finale would be a special one. I wore his old jersey that he used to race in, so that was a little extra, extra little thing to make it a little more symbolic.”
Dunbar will be entering his senior year at the University of Oregon this fall, where he competes in cross country and middle-distance track.
Jay Barrett is the news director at KMXT in Kodiak.
