The 2017 Dash For Doobie battle between Mount Tabor's Cameron Ponder and RJ Reynold's John Tatter was one for the ages. With fans lined down the home stretch this elite field was bound to do something special. Tatter did not make a move to the front until the mile mark, taking the field through in 4:35. Laderique McNeill (Harnett Central) and David Melville (Northern Guilford) sat right at the front with Tatter. The field started to thin out on that fifth lap as the top ten was now single file down the back straightaway. Tatter made his first move as they approached the 2000m mark and Ponder did not hesitate to go with him. They distanced themselves very quickly from the field and they made it clear the back half of this race would be a one-on-one affair. Ponder continued to sit on the shoulder of Tatter until the bell lap when Ponder finally made his move. He turned on the jets and started to pull away from Tatter. Tatter tried to hold but Ponder was too strong over the final 200m, as Ponder just missed a sub 9:00 performance, running 9:00.14. Tatter finished 2nd in 9:01.72. Although they did not get under 9:00, this duel still goes down as one of the best head-to-head 3200m's in North Carolina history.
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| BOYS 3200 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | ||||
| 1 | Cameron Ponder | 12 | Mount Tabor | 9:00.14 | 0 | |||
| 2 | John Tatter | 12 | R.J. Reynolds | 9:01.72 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Wynn Johnson | 12 | Dorman | 9:14.74 | 0 | |||
| 4 | David Melville | 12 | Northern Guilford | 9:14.82 | 2 | |||
| 5 | Ben Mitchell | 12 | Forsyth Country Day School | 9:15.44 | 0 | |||
| 6 | Aaron Withrow | 11 | Winfield | 9:20.61 | 0 | |||
| 7 | Peyton Barish | 12 | Green Hope | 9:20.93 | 3 | |||
| 8 | Colin Baker | 11 | Academic Magnet | 9:21.28 | 0 | |||
| 9 | Laderique McNeill | 12 | Harnett Central | 9:23.54 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Ben Verchick | 11 | Union Pines | 9:27.40 | 0 | |||