Linn-Mar's Kyle Dunn looking to get even faster this year

MARION - Kyle Dunn is fit and fast.

Maybe too fit and too fast for his own good.

“He's so strong right now, he's having trouble with his steps in the high hurdles,” said Tim Stamp, Dunn's hurdles coach at Linn-Mar High School. “He's having a hard time getting three steps between each hurdle.”

A double champion at last year's state meet (he captured gold in the open 400 and the 400-meter hurdles), Dunn enjoyed what he called “my best offseason ever.”

It was an offseason that included the signing of a national letter of intent to NCAA track and field giant Arkansas.

“I got in the weight room a lot more, probably three times a week,” said Dunn, who despite adding some muscle, lost a little weight. He now has 165 pounds on his slender 6-foot-2 frame.

Dunn has shed weight. And in his signature race, the 400-meter hurdles, he has shed time.

At last year's Drake Relays, he won the event in 53.13 seconds. By the Mississippi Valley Conference meet, he was down to 51.64. Then 51.51 at districts. Then 51.41 at state.

The all-time Iowa best is 50.96, set by Ames' Dustin Avey in 1996. It's reachable.

“Instead of looking at a half-second I have to cut, I have to take the race apart into segments,” he said. “You know, if I can take a tenth of a second off before the first hurdle, a few hundredths between each hurdle, it's easier to comprehend.”

Dunn also won the 400 last year at state, running in 48.33 seconds in Lane 8.

But he was upset by Cedar Rapids Xavier's Ryan Sander in the 110 highs after winning that event at Drake. And that provides as much motivation as the pursuit of Avey's record.

Dunn doesn't have to look far to get pushed. Teammate Nick Lucas was fourth at state in the 400 lows last year. Another Linn-Mar hurdler, Brandon Ophoff, has beaten him in the 60-meter highs in the indoor season.

When push comes to shove in May, Dunn will certainly compete in both individual hurdles events and the open 400. His fourth event is yet to be decided.

“We can put a good shuttle hurdle relay together even without Kyle,” Stamp said. “And we're certainly looking at him in the 4-by-400.”

Dunn ran an open 400 in 48.79 at the Iowa State Indoor, about eight-tenths of a second faster than where he was last year at that point of the season.

But the 400 hurdles is his bread and butter. Stamp calls Dunn “a student of the event.”

“He's a great listener and he's great at executing whatever game plan we put together,” Stamp said.

Right now, that strategy means 6 seconds to the first hurdle and 4 seconds to each of the next four. Dunn tries to run 14 strides to each of the first five hurdles, 15 for the final five.

The stretch run comes down to adrenaline and form. Guts.

Dunn's final season coincides with the first season of Linn-Mar's gorgeous new track/football/soccer complex.

“When you come down the stretch, with the huge new grandstands, it feels like you're at Drake Stadium,” Dunn said. “You can feel the difference in the speed of the track.

“That makes the opportunities even greater this season for me.”