John Raffel
Sports Scene
David Dantuma is a senior cross country runner for Crossroads Charter Academy who has not been in the sport for that long, but who has been putting on quite a show this year. “I’ve only really run it for one year,” he said. “Last year, I dual-sported when I played football. I started training this year for distance during track season and started getting really good at that.”
Dantuma played football his freshman, sophomore, and junior years, but he said he’s happy with his decision to switch sports.
“It was a smart move,” he said. “My heart wasn’t really with football.”
Dantuma was on the Crossroads track team that tied for the Division 4 state title last spring. He ran the second leg on the first-place 1,600-meter squad and the first leg on the first-place 3,200-meter relay squad. He also got second in the 800-meter run.
So far with cross country, “I’ve been really happy,” Dantuma said. “I don’t have much experience. I’m happy (with his time). I feel like I can do better (than 15:48, his PR). I can train smarter.”
The first mile has been Dantuma’s strength. “I feel like I have a strong kick at the finish, but my first mile is always the best,” he said. “I need to start working on getting better at 2,000 meters.”
Dantuma has won various races in the West Michigan D League. He had a fourth-place finish at the Carson City-Crystal Don Baese Invitational.
He’s looking for top 15 at the state finals in cross country. He’s confident that being involved in cross country will be a plus for his track season in 2012.
“I think it’s going to help a lot,” he said. “I soon as I started training for distance for track, I ran a 4:34 mile which was my third mile. I never ran (1,600 and 800) before. I qualified for both at state and did pretty good. I’m two minutes faster (in cross country) from last year. I can get a lot better and improve. I can have (a good track season), especially if I put in a good winter.”