Boys track: Nicolet's David Dunlap no longer flies under the radar

GLENDALE - David Dunlap’s expectations of himself haven’t changed. It is the rest of us who had to catch up.

The Nicolet senior won a Division 1 state title in the 200 meters as a junior and came within a couple of steps from taking the 100 as well. Those accomplishments at the state meet capped one of the area’s biggest surprises of 2016.  Dunlap had previously run only relays at the state meet.

To Dunlap, however, his emergence was right on schedule.

“I always said since I started running track that I had to do it by junior year,” he said of winning a state championship. “I had to have at least one.”

Thanks to last year's success, Dunlap enters his senior season on the short list of the state’s top sprinters.

His season-best time of 10.64 seconds in the 100 was the state’s fastest last season, while his top 200 time of 21.58 was second to Rice Lake junior Ken Bednarek. At state, Dunlap's 100 time of 11.0 was second best regardless of division overall and his 200 time of 21.58 was the best of the day.

Dunlap came a long way in one year.

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“I think the biggest difference between David from his sophomore year to his junior year, in my opinion, is his drive to want to win, not his ability to win...,” Nicolet coach Jeff Houck said. “He’s very talented. He works hard. He’s a fun kid to be around, but on the track when it’s race time it’s no nonsense, he knows what he needs to do.”

Dunlap wasn’t a complete unknown entering his junior season. He finished third in the 200 at the North Shore Conference meet as a sophomore and was a member on 400 and 800 relays that reached state. He anchored the 800 relay to a fourth-place finish. Individually, however, he had not solidified a spot as a 100 runner.

The turning point, he says, came the summer following his sophomore year when he as a member of the Congress Purple Storm Youth Club and trained with former Milwaukee King standout Maurice Simpson.

“Since he was way faster than me, I had a whole lot of ground to make up,” Dunlap said. “So I worked toward that.”

It also stung Dunlap when he didn’t qualify for state as a sophomore in the 200, missing the final spot by five-hundredths of a second.

“I thought I had made it, too,” he said, “so when I didn’t make the cut that bothered me a little bit.”

Dunlap carried that edge with him into 2016, and with the help of an increased attention to weight training, he put together a banner junior year that also included 100-meter victories at the Brookfield East Spartan Invitational (11.25), Germantown Invite (11.08) and Myrhum Invite (10.89) before he ran his season-best time of 10.64 at the conference meet.

That was just the start of big things for Dunlap.

“He lets his performances do the talking and not his mouth do the talking, which is something I respect about him (and) I think other competitors look up to him,” Houck said. “It’s great to have him on the team. ... He works hard, but then is also a good model for the young kids."

Editor's Note

Our athletes of the year from all WIAA sports will be announced as part of our inaugural high school sports awards show this spring. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Awards will be held at 8 p.m. May 17 at the Pabst Theater. The show will feature various awards, entertainment and guest speaker Jordy Nelson of the Green Bay Packers. We will provide more details about the event in the coming weeks and months.