Standing the test of time: Southmoreland graduate Dugan still holds PIAA records
Jim Downey | 缅北禁地
Southmoreland鈥檚 Chris Dugan walks with his shoes in hand after completing the 1,600 on a hot afternoon in the 1997 PIAA Class AA Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg鈥檚 Seth Grove Stadium. Dugan finished second by .31 seconds as he attempted to double in the distances after winning the 3,200 in a state record time of 9:04.09. The mark still stands 25 years later.
Submitted photo
Southmoreland graduate Chris Dugan earned All-American honors in cross country, steeplechase, outdoor track and indoor track at North Carolina State.
Submitted photo
Southmoreland graduate Chris Dugan competes in the steeplechase for North Carolina State.
Southmoreland High School cross country and track star Chris Dugan is one of the most celebrated runners to come out of Western Pennsylvania. His career almost never happened.
鈥淚 had an older brother and we were growing up, we didn鈥檛 have a ton of opportunities back in the early 1980s, so soccer was one of the few programs that we got interested in very early,鈥� Dugan recalled. 鈥淚 played a lot of soccer with my brother and we did some baseball in the spring. We were close to a park with a field and we played a lot of sports at the park.
鈥淚鈥檇 always run a little bit here and there, and my dad used to run road races back in the 1980s and when I was about seven or eight I wanted to try it. I ran with one of my neighbor鈥檚 sons, who was a lot older, and I enjoyed the competition aspect of it. After a couple of races, I was doing really well. But, it was always an individualistic sport. Celebrating individual wins was great, but I missed the team aspect.
鈥淚t was a tough transition when they talked me into cross country and track. As it turn out, it was pretty good. Cross country was my first opportunity as a freshman. I was doing a run before I went to soccer practice and working out constantly. I trained a little more in the winter. When I finished my freshman year I ran a 4:30 mile and that was like okay, and I got fourth in the WPIAL.
鈥淭hat was a really fast time. Now you put yourself out there and now you鈥檝e got to back it up. Now I鈥檝e got to keep going with this. Let鈥檚 see if I can build upon it because not everybody can run this fast.鈥�
It was the start of a great career at Southmoreland. Dugan was the first boy to win three consecutive PIAA cross country championships. He won his titles in Class AA from 1994-96. Dugan also won three 1,600-meter and two 3,200-meter titles at the PIAA track championships.
鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 as much depth at the Class AA level,鈥� Dugan said. 鈥淕oing into my senior year I wanted to break the record and go under 9:00 in the 3,200 and I didn鈥檛 do it that day, but I knew I had to pace myself because I was running by myself the majority of the race. It鈥檚 much more enjoyable to race against somebody rather than try to race the clock and make certain splits.鈥�
Dugan still holds the PIAA record in the 3,200 of 9:04.09 that he set in 1997. He also finished second in the 1,600 by .31 seconds to Scranton Prep鈥檚 Tom Zukowski later in the day.
鈥淎ctually I have a buddy that went to Mt. Lebanon that I used to train with,鈥� Dugan stated. 鈥淗e sent me a text and said your record held another year. It鈥檚 amazing that the record is still in place, but it鈥檚 just a matter of time until someone breaks it.鈥�
The late Don Gilpin was Dugan鈥檚 coach at Southmoreland and had an impact on Dugan.
鈥淗e had vast track and cross country experience,鈥� Dugan offered. 鈥淚鈥檇 say more track experience, but he understood training a guy like Sam Bair at a distance level and having those additional understandings of competing in college athletics. At the time it was the right level of not over doing it too much. He allowed me to grow into myself and not run too many miles at too young of an age.鈥�
Dugan was on the small size for a freshman in high school, but filled out as he got older.
鈥淚 probably topped out at 5-11, I had a growth spur over the freshman year,鈥� Dugan said. 鈥淚 got longer and lanky. I grew into doing five or seven miles as a freshman and by the time I was a senior it was 50 miles a week.鈥�
When Dugan graduated from Southmoreland in 1997 he sifted through various college scholarship offers.
鈥淚 was pretty heavily recruited,鈥� Dugan explained. 鈥淗ow did I wind up at North Carolina State? Sam Bair, the great Scottdale distance runner, one of his track teammates from college was Rollie Geiger, who was and still is the head coach at NC State, and Bair sent him a tape of me freshman and sophomore year and said take a look at this kid. At the time I knew nothing of N.C. State. That was the connection.
鈥淚t turned out to be a great move. I came in with very high expectations. I thought I鈥檇 be a little more successful right out the door. It didn鈥檛 happen that way, but I finished at N.C. State with five All-American certificates, two in cross country, two in the steeplechase and outdoor track, and one indoors.
鈥淲hen I graduated from high school, I went to a camp in Oregon and ran the steeplechase there in nine minutes, 30 seconds. That was one of the top five times in the country for a high school runner. That鈥檚 a little deceiving because not many schools run the event, but I guess that got some people鈥檚 attention. Then I went to college and just kept running it.鈥�
After graduating from N.C. State, Dugan stepped away from running.
鈥淲hen I graduated I鈥檇 been running competitively from about my sophomore year in high school, but unlike a lot of the guys when I got to N.C. State I was competing into July and August,鈥� Dugan said. 鈥淚t was a never-ending cycle and mentally I was drained. I took a break and tried to get a job. I just worked laying cables and side jobs landscaping.
鈥淎 grad assistant said the Adidas team might need a couple extra runners for the cross country championships. He trained me for a 4K cross country race and I finished 12th. It got me going again and I decided to give it one more shot.
鈥淚 moved to Texas in 2003 and trained for a year for the steeplechase, qualified for the Olympic Trials and didn鈥檛 qualify for the finals. It was 2004 and I was 25 and I needed to settle down and go to work.鈥�
Dugan, 43, resides in Raleigh, N.C., with his wife Katie, who also was a former runner at N.C. State. They got married in 2007 and have three kids, 13-year-old Alexander, 11-year-old Sidney and eight-year-old Aubrey. Dugan works for Pepsi Cola. He has worked there for 16 years.
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.