WOODS CROSS, Utah – One thought crowded out all others when Cam Dopp lined up to race in the 300-meter hurdles at the BYU Invitational. Thirty-six seconds. Like a blinking light, it drew his attention and kept it fixed there.
Dopp made it his goal to get under 37 seconds and become the first Utah high school track athlete in more than a decade to eclipse that barrier. The
Woods Cross (Utah) senior also had his sights set on claiming a state record.
Dopp rewrote the 300 hurdles record in impressive fashion. His winning time of 36.30 seconds was more than a half-second faster than the record of 36.93 set by former West Jordan star – and current Herriman coach – Jacob Garlick in 2000.
Cam Dopp, Woods Cross
Photo by John Coon
There was no question in Dopp's mind he would enter the record books at BYU after a promising start in his heat a day earlier.
"I ran a 37.5 and realized I figured it out," Dopp said. "The next day I got up in the bullpen and I knew before the race started that I was going 36. I knew I was going to break the state record. I just didn't know how much. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I knew I had destroyed it."
Dopp built on his record-breaking performance two weeks later when he claimed four Class 4A titles on the same track at BYU. The senior won in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 400 meters and anchored the winning 4x400 relay team for Woods Cross.
His individual performance helped the Wildcats clinch a second-straight Class 4A team title in boys track and field. Dopp finished his senior season ranked No. 2 nationally in the 300 hurdles.
Woods Cross coach Sam Wood thought Dopp could challenge for the record he eventually broke at BYU on the first weekend of May. The way he shattered it, however, took even his coach by surprise.
"I thought he had a really good chance of breaking 37 seconds, which had been done only once," Wood said. "I'd be lying if I told you I thought he would run 36.30 though. But he's very talented and works very hard, so he's earned every bit of it."
Dopp, who has committed to run for BYU after serving an LDS mission, comes from a family of hurdlers. His father Kyle Dopp competed in the hurdles for the University of Utah in the 1980s when the school still had a mens track program.
He received plenty of encouragement and coaching from his father. Cam Dopp quit other sports like football and soccer to focus on track in ninth grade. Early races for him were good, but not as good as he wanted them to be. He credited his father with changing his focus out of the blocks and pointing him in a better direction.
"My dad had always told me I was racing for the wrong reasons," Cam said. "He said that I was racing to not lose. I wasn't racing to win. He said I was so worried about beating other people, that I wasn't doing my best. Once, in my mind, I had decided when I got out on the track that I didn't care about racing anybody else – I only cared about racing myself and going as fast as I could – all of the sudden, the window just shattered. And that's when I ran."
It didn't earn him the same attention as breaking a state record, but one of Cam's favorite moments this season came when he finally bested his dad's top time in the 110 hurdles. His dad joked at the BYU Invitational that his son had to listen to his coaching advice until he went out and beat his 110 hurdles time of 14.5.
Cam beat it 10 minutes later with a time of 14.3 seconds. He improved his time to 14.14 seconds at the state meet two weeks later.
"It took me forerver to beat his PR," Cam said. "He ran that on a dirt track with chalk lines back in the 80s. My dad is fast and I'm lucky to have him as a coach."
Just like Woods Cross was lucky to have Dopp as a hurdler for four years.
John Coon covers Utah high school sports for MaxPreps. You can reach him at john_coon@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @johncoonsports
