Sports
Natalie Dumas And Luke Pash Named Ed Grant Award Winners
NJ MileSplit is proud to announce the winners of the third annual Ed Grant Award!
This award, named after legendary track and field journalist and New Jersey track and field historian Ed Grant, who passed away in May of 2021, honors the top high school male and female athlete in New Jersey track and field and cross country.
Winners were selected by a committee after reviewing all the top performers during this past 2024-2025 school year across all three seasons.
Here’s a look at the winners along with the list of the other finalists.
More: In-Depth Feature on Ed Grant’s Life
ED GRANT AWARD WINNERS
Girls Winner
After winning the 400-meter title at the indoor Meet of Champions at Ocean Breeze in March, Natalie Dumas followed that up by putting together one of the greatest seasons in U.S. high school history this past spring.
The biggest highlights for the indefatigable junior at Eastern came when she threw down a pair of historic triples last month at both the NJSIAA Meet of Champions and the New Balance National Championships.
At the Meet of Champions at Pennsauken High on June 4, Dumas became the first athlete to ever win the 400m hurdles, the 400m, and the 800m!!!
Dumas won the 400 hurdles for the second straight year in 1:00.25, then repeated as champion in the 400 in 53.16, matching her winning time last year, and less than 30 minutes later, she won the 800 in a meet record 2:02.45!
A couple weeks later at the NB Nationals at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Dumas showcased her breathtaking and electrifying talent once again by sending the track and field world into an absolute frenzy by completing a head-spinning triple by becoming the first woman in the history of the world to run 51.14 for 400, 2:00.11 for 800, and 55.99 for the 400 hurdles!!
In her trifecta for the ages, Dumas won all 3 races and shattered the meet records in each race, broke the NJ records in the 400 (she had shared it with Sydney McLaughlin-Levonre) and the 800 (Ajee’ Wilson had held it), and dropped some of the fastest times ever run in U.S. high school history! Her 51.14 and 55.99 are No. 6 in U.S. high school history, and her 2:00.11 in the 800 is No. 5 all-time.
Oh, and Dumas also earned All-American honors with a 2:03.90 anchor split on the runner-up SMR squad!! So she was a quadruple All-American!
The 2:00.11 by Dumas is No. 8 on the all-time U.S. Under-20 list and makes her the 8th fastest NJ woman ever on any level!!! Trenton’s Athing Mu, the current American outdoor record holder in the 800 and the 2021 Olympic gold medalist in the 800, is No. 1 on the U.S. U20 list, and Wilson is No. 2 at 1:58.21.
The legendary Dumas is now the second fastest junior in U.S. high school history in the 800. The only junior to go faster is Mary Cain of New York, who went 1:59.51 at the 2013 Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Oregon.
She did all that at the age of 16!!! She won’t turn 17 until Aug. 7.
There just isn’t anyone who can match the kind of range that Dumas has.
Did you know that she’s also run 4:55.66 for 1600m, 24.02 for 200m, and she ran 20:26 for 5K at Holmdel Park last fall!!!
Dumas is scheduled to run the 800 at the Toyota USATF Championships, scheduled for July 31st – August 3rd at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The top three finishers in each event at the U.S. Championships who meet the world qualifying standard will earn a place on the U.S. team that will compete at the World Championships in Tokyo from September 13-21.
Boys Winner
Luke Pash solidified his status as a New Jersey legend with one of the greatest outdoor seasons by a distance runner in state history.
Pash, the only boy in the state to be named First-Team All-State in all 3 seasons this past school year, made a strong run at becoming the second runner in state history to crack 4 minutes in the mile when the University of North Carolina-bound star burned a 4:03.02 to place third at the RunningLane Championships at Milton Frank Stadium on May 24 in Huntsville, Alabama.
With that time, Pash moved all the way up to No. 2 in NJ history behind Marty Liquori of Essex Catholic, who ran 3:59.8 when he placed seventh at the National AAU Championships at Bakersfield College’s Memorial Stadium in California on June 23, 1967.
Pash, who shattered the Bergen County record of 4:05.69 that Ben Malone of Pascack Valley ran to place second at the 2013 Penn Relays, ripped a 59.62 final quarter to move from 11th to third on the final lap. Pash, who had split of 61.17, 2:01.82, and 3:03.40 before closing in sub 60, finished behind TJ Hansen of Michigan (3:59.02) and Corbin Coombs of New Mexico (3:59.23).
Pash, who passed some of the biggest names in NJ history on the all-time mile list, like Edward Cheserek of St. Benedict’s Prep (4:03.29 in 2011) and Olympian Robby Andrews of Manalapan (4:03.49 in 2009), said it’s an honor to be right behind Liquori on NJ’s all-time list.
“Having the 2nd fastest time in NJ history is so amazing and I am super blessed to have my name up so high on that list,” said Pash. “It is so cool for me that I’m being talked about in the category of the state record in the mile. Marty Liquori was an amazing runner, so having me up there with him is again so cool.”
Pash concluded his illustrious high school career by running 4:04.41 to finish fourth and earn All-American honors in the mile at the New Balance National Championships.
Pash also won two more Meet of Champions titles this past school year to raise his career total to 4. After winning the 3200m at the indoor Meet of Champions and the 1600m at the outdoor Meet of Champions as a junior in 2024, Pash repeated as 3200m champ indoors and also won the 3200m outdoors.
In addition to his 4:03.02 mile, Pash also ran personal bests of 1:51.50 in the 800 this spring and 8:54.81 in the 3200m indoors.
Girls Finalists
Blair Bartlett, Lawrenceville School
Egypt Bolan, Lindenwold
Taylor Cox, Union Catholic
Natalie Dumas, Eastern Regional
Liliah Gordon, Northern Burlington
Hannah Byrd-Leitner, Moorestown
Hannah Nuhfer, Delsea Regional
Jessica Oji, Livingston
Paige Sheppard, Union Catholic
Sianni Wynn, Pennsauken
Boys Finalists
Past Winners
2024-2025
Natalie Dumas – Eastern Regional HS
Luke Pash – Ridgewood HS
2023-2024
– Article –
.png)
Taylor Cox – Union Catholic HS
Malachi James – Burlington City HS
2022-2022
– Article –
Layla Giordano – NV Old Tappan HS
Xavier Donaldson – Seton Hall Prep