It was a strange sight to see at Wednesday's Meet of Champs in Russellville, Arkansas as Bentonville's Will Neumann had his fist in the middle of Fort Smith Southside's Ethan Dunn's back, working on it like he was seasoned chiropractor. Maybe it wouldn't have been strange if Dunn was a fellow Bentonville Tiger instead of his main competition in the final Arkansas high school meet of the season. "He had a knot in there and I just kind of worked it out for him," Neumann said.
The two met in Fayetteville their freshman year at the Northwest Arkansas Conference Meet and have been friends and fierce competitors ever since. Neumann won that first competition throwing the 1K discus 168-5. Dunn was right behind him with a throw of 164-9.
Dunn came in with a season best throw from the Van Buren Pointer Relays where he had a throw of 173-4. His first two throws of the Wednesday's competition were better marks (176-11 and 178-6). Even his third throw in the prelims tied his season best.
After a sub-par initial effort on his first throw, Neuman had throws of 172-1 and 171-1 in the second and third round. Those are not bad throws, but Neumann has broken the 180-0 barrier four times during his senior year including a 184-4 at the 6A Arkansas State Championship to win his second state title in a row.
Going into the finals, Neumann's struggles continued. So did Dunn's consistency. It came down to Neumann's last throw of his high school career and he made it a memorable one--launching the discus out to 180-0 to get his first Meet of Champions gold medal. It was the last box to check for Neumann, who will soon head to Colorado Springs where he will play football and compete in track and field for Air Force.
"I needed it," Neumann said of his last throw. "I needed something. I was able to put one together and just let it go."
Neumann talked about what he will miss the most about his days competing in track and field in Northwest Arkansas.
"I'm going to miss my teammates," Neumann said. "I've had a lot of fun practicing with them--Jed Rasico especially. We are out there every day. We have some weird school schedules so we are always out there together working out throwing a bunch. I'm going to miss that a lot. And I'm going to miss Ethan. We have been competing against each other since the ninth grade going back and forth. It's just been a lot of fun competing with him"
"I had a little twinge in my back and he helped me out there," Dunn said about is friend and friendly rival helping him out before the competition started. "I guess it worked. Those were my best throws of the season."
It was a great..final...season for the senior who plans to attend the University of Arkansas. Five wins. Runner-up finishes (to Neumann) in the final three meets of his high school career--the 6A West Conference, 6A State Championship, and the Meet of Champions. Besides Neumann, only two other throwers beat Dunn.
As good as the discus was for Dunn, the shot put was even better--winning eight of ten competitions including wins at the 6A West Conference Meet (52-9) and the Meet of Champions (58-4.5).
Neumann's work on his back aside, Dunn credited his ability to hit the power position as a reason for his consistency in the discus.
"I think it just putting the power down in the power position," Dunn said. "It's the best I've done it this year for sure. My spin was smooth. Not fast per se, but it was smooth, but it was definitely smooth and thats' what helped." Du
Dunn said he is going to continue to throw. "I cannot give up it just yet," he said. But when he does, he will miss the meets with friends.
"I've essentially grown up with these guys over the last four years," Dunn said. "It was definitely the best part."
