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Sports NEWS<br />
It started when he arrived on campus<br />
and began working with head coach<br />
Bryan Harmon’s staff – most notably<br />
jumps coach Nick Decker – to improve<br />
his footwork on approach. Dudley<br />
had a successful high school career at<br />
Massillon, earning a pair of all-state<br />
finishes. But the <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Erie</strong> coaches<br />
noticed a glitch in his steps and<br />
worked to rectify it.<br />
“In high school, I stuttered on my<br />
last four steps and when I got here I<br />
worked on making it smoother and<br />
a more of a run-up and jump off<br />
the run,” he said. “It has helped me<br />
tremendously. The most important<br />
thing to a successful jump is the<br />
approach. If you don’t hit it hard<br />
enough and come up short of your<br />
take off spot, it could be disastrous. It<br />
wasn’t an easy change for me, but we<br />
kept working on it throughout the year<br />
to get it smoother and to the point I<br />
was consistently doing it every time.”<br />
The change in footwork proved<br />
effective immediately. Dudley hit the<br />
national standard for automatic qualification<br />
for the NCAA Indoor National<br />
Championships in his first intercollegiate<br />
meet in December. Then in<br />
March he took home the school’s first<br />
track and field conference championship<br />
trophy by winning the high<br />
jump at the Great <strong>Lake</strong>s Intercollegiate<br />
Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships,<br />
a competition where he also<br />
was named the league’s Freshman<br />
Field Athlete of the Year.<br />
He carried that success to the national<br />
indoor championships where he<br />
claimed his first All-American honor<br />
with a third-place finish in the high<br />
jump, helping <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Erie</strong> to a 16th-place<br />
team finish.<br />
“Being a freshman and coming into<br />
our league, which is so competitive,<br />
and then going to the national meet,<br />
having such success early was<br />
very special.”<br />
Using the experience from the indoor<br />
season as a learning tool, Dudley<br />
transitioned to the outdoor season<br />
in March and continued to dominate<br />
the event. The highlight of the season<br />
came in mid April at a meet in<br />
High Point, N.C.<br />
“At the meet at High<br />
Point, I was watching the<br />
races and if you won, they<br />
gave you flowers and you<br />
were introduced to the<br />
stadium at the middle of<br />
the field,” Dudley recalled.<br />
“I really just wanted to be<br />
out there and do that.”<br />
He was able to get his opportunity<br />
after winning the high jump with an<br />
incredible jump of 7’-3 ¼”, giving him<br />
the best jump of the year in Division II<br />
for both indoor and outdoor seasons.<br />
“I was trying to hit the B standard<br />
for the USATF national meet, which<br />
I hit on my third jump. But then the<br />
officials came back and said that they<br />
had the measurements wrong and that<br />
the height wasn’t accurate. I just kept<br />
thinking, ‘Oh no, please don’t take this<br />
away from me,’ but then they said that<br />
it was inaccurate on the short side and<br />
that I had actually cleared 7’-3 ¼.”<br />
“I couldn’t believe it – I was<br />
speechless.”<br />
He went on to place third at the GLIAC<br />
outdoor meet and then followed<br />
that up with a fourth-place finish at<br />
the NCAA Outdoor Championships<br />
in California, earning his second<br />
All-American honor. It was one of<br />
seven A-A awards for the Storm men,<br />
who tied for 14th place at the national<br />
meet out of over 60 scoring schools.<br />
After admittingly just trying to be<br />
part of the team and fitting in as a<br />
freshman, Dudley has more than made<br />
a name for himself both on campus<br />
and at the national level. Now, the<br />
criminal justice major has several more<br />
goals for the rest of his career.<br />
He’ll start with basketball. He’s going<br />
to be a member of the Storm men’s<br />
team this season and then switch over<br />
to track near the end of the indoor<br />
season, hoping to join a growing list of<br />
two-sport stars at <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Erie</strong>. He’s also<br />
gunning for the US National Olympic<br />
Trial mark of 7’-4 ½”.<br />
Dudley knows that two sports and<br />
keeping up with his studies will be a<br />
challenge, but he is going to rely on<br />
what has brought him to this point.<br />
“I try to keep a level head and not<br />
get ahead of myself,” he said. “I<br />
tell myself the same message that<br />
my coaches and family tell me: keep<br />
working hard, keep trying to improve<br />
myself and get better.”<br />
And now, he wants to get noticed for<br />
one thing, a ring.<br />
“I want to win a national championship.<br />
I was close last year at both<br />
meets. I want that gold medal ring.”<br />
38 L A K E E R I E | <strong>FALL</strong> ‘11
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