Ashwaubenon’s Dunning finds her groove again
Mia Dunning has come a long way.
The Ashwaubenon senior qualified for the WIAA state track and field meet last Thursday in the shot put and discus.
Her winning throw in the discus of 141 feet, 11 inches was almost 10 feet farther than her previous personal-best toss and also earned her the No. 1 seed for Division 1 heading into her first state meet.
While it’s an impressive feat for someone who hasn’t competed in the sport in three years, Dunning has come a much farther way outside of the throwing circle.
Her ability to simply take in the beautiful sunset at Schneider Stadium in De Pere last week as she cheered on her teammates marked a huge accomplishment in and of itself.
“I want to get more memories to replace the eight months that I missed,” Dunning said.
Eight months.
That’s how Dunning measures the time she lost while recovering from a concussion sustained at the end of her junior season of hockey.
The all-state defenseman doesn’t recall much from the eight months following the injury, which ended her days competing on the ice.
She wore an aqua blue dress to her junior prom, but doesn’t remember wearing it. She only knows it was that color and that she went with her friends based on the photos she has.
“I was so lost for those months,” Dunning said. “I just didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Dunning was a heavily recruited hockey player and was considering attending Yale for college.
She harnessed her skills on the ice by playing on boys teams up until she reached high school, which saw her lead the Bay Area Ice Bears to the WIAA state tournament in 2017.
The concussion was almost like a bad case of déjà vu from when she sustained one in sixth grade during a tournament in Michigan.
“Someone came from my blind spot and they took me out,” Dunning said. “Being a girl, a lot of guys targeted me because I had the ponytail out.”
The concussion sustained at the end of her junior season not only affected her short-term memory, but made her sensitive to light and easily susceptible to getting sick from even the slightest motion or noise.
“I was very secluded,” Dunning said. “I would really try to get out there and work with people, but I would get so sick if there was too much movement.
“I missed a lot of school. I would try every day and try so hard, but I would get sick at school because there is too much light or too much noise. It’s stimulus upon stimulus.”
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Dunning has a Goldendoodle named Mowgli.
However, he is more than just a dog to her. He is a lifesaver.
“The doctors were afraid at first because in my brain the neurons weren’t connecting during my baseline tests,” Dunning said.
“They feared there was a chance I would lose some of my personality because that’s what can happen with a concussion. I needed to develop a relationship with something else. That’s why we got him.”
Dunning trained Mowgli as a therapy dog. She said the experience aided her tremendously on her road to recovery.
She brings Mowgli to school for parts of the day sometimes. She does it not just for herself, but to allow her peers to be comforted by the 95-pound therapy dog as well to help deal with anxiety or depression.
An avid Disney fan, Dunning named the curly-haired dog after the main character from the “Jungle Book.”
“The Jungle Book is about someone that’s out there and not understood,” Dunning said.
Mowgli helped Dunning return to her social butterfly self again.
“She’s always the most positive person,” said Ashwaubenon senior Sage Wagner, a state qualifier in the 800-, 1,600- and 1,600-meter relay.
“You just want to go out there and do good things because of her demeanor and how she carries herself. She makes everyone better themselves.”
Dunning devotes her time to helping with Special Olympics athletes and the Goody Triathlon.
“Their personalities are amazing,” Dunning said. “The relationships I have with them will last forever. I’ve been able to help them with my therapy dog and bring him in to teach them about certain things.
“I hope everyone I surround myself with learns something new and is able to expand their horizons a little bit more.”
Dunning snacked on Airheads last Thursday before making her personal-best throw in the discus.
The sugar boost was exactly what she needed after an insulin check revealed her levels were too low.
“I was at a 55,” she said. “I’m supposed to be between 80 and 120, so it was quite low.”
Dunning was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was about 5 years old and has used an insulin pump since she was 6.
However, she never used it as an excuse for not being able to perform at a high level in school or sports.
“It doesn’t affect your ability to perform,” Dunning said. “It’s just one or two extra steps in the process.”
Although she’ll never be able to compete in a contact sport like hockey again, the process to return to athletic endeavors for Dunning was a long one.
She had to regain her endurance and strength after going through several months with limited physical activity.
“It started out with her coming out for cross-country,” Ashwaubenon cross-country/ track and field coach Cal Kromm said.
“She ran cross-country and scored on JV multiple times. She was amazing. Teammates loved her. She would make little gift packs before races.”
Dunning then set her sights on returning to the throwing circle.
She was very successful as a freshman in 2016, placing third at the Fox River Classic Conference meet in the shot put and discus before focusing on club hockey in the spring.
Throwing is in her bloodlines as well. Her older sister, Erin, currently competes at the University of Minnesota and was a multiple-time state medalist in both throws, winning the D1 shot put state title in 2016.
Both of her parents were throwers in high school. Her mother, Marguerite, set school records in the shot put and discus at Bay Port before playing college basketball at Minnesota State-Mankato, where her father, Eric, played football.
Before she could step back into the thrower’s circle, Dunning had to regain her strength. She enlisted the help of Ashwaubenon throws coach Kile Lindow to draft a weightlifting plan.
Once she was able to squat 350 pounds again, Dunning started attending Sunday sessions at the Madison Throws Club in the winter.
“She’s a high-character kid,” Ashwaubenon activities director Nick Senger said. “She’s a hard worker, a lifter. Her technique, good coaching and work ethic has really paid dividends for her.”
Dunning said her muscle memory was aided by the form work she had done her freshman year with assistant coach Dan Schmidt, who made the throwers do 500 reps of the glide and spin motions before getting to throw in an actual meet.
“It kept on going,” Dunning said. “Form, form form, and practice, practice practice. I’m so grateful for how I’ve been able to come back into the groove of things.”
The chemistry room is Dunning’s place to escape at school.
She’ll go there during lunch periods to lie down or do chemical reactions to relax.
“I love doing reactions in the chem room,” said Dunning, who has a 4.2 GPA. “I’m just fascinated by how reactions happen and the equations that go behind them.”
Dunning is thankful for her teachers and how they helped her during her recovery process. She was able to do coursework during that time, but came in during the summer to finish exams when her short-term memory got better.
Dunning recalls Joelle Zuengler, a science teacher, coming in on her own time so she could repeat labs.
“I was determined,” Dunning said. “Even my doctors told me, ‘Take a break. You can’t be doing this right away.’ But I love school, and I think school teaches us so much.”
Dunning will attend St. Nobert College. She’ll compete in track and field, while studying molecular biology.
Her goal is to help find a cure for super bugs.
“Being a Type 1 diabetic, I have a weak immune system, so I’ve always been curious with how the body works,” Dunning said. “I just want to expand that and be able to figure out what a virus is actually doing in the body and what makes it trigger.”
Dunning has been wearing one of her dad’s flannels during what has been a rather cold and wet spring.
“It’s really comfy,” she said. “When I first started wearing the flannel I was so tired of my hair falling out. I cut my hair short because every time I cut my hair, it’s like a new start.”
The Ashwaubenon senior has come a long way since the start of the season, which began with her wearing ear plugs and noise-canceling headphones at the indoor state meet to offset the over stimulus she was experiencing.
Dunning has been getting closer to her sister’s school records this year. Erin’s mark of 47-3¼ in the shot put may be out of reach for Mia, whose personal-best is 40-1½ and leads the Green Bay area.
However, the discus record of 143-7 may be attainable if she continues on the pace she has been on in recent weeks.
Dunning recorded a personal-best throw of 131-1½ in the discus at regionals. She bit down on her shirt while making throws to prevent her head from turning before her hips did.
Her form was spot on at sectionals, allowing her to make a personal-best throw of 141-11, which is seeded No. 1 for the state meet and ranks third on the state honor roll this season.
“She’s been nothing but positive,” Kromm said. “To see where she started and now where’s she going to finish, you can’t ask for more than that. She has just been awesome.”
Dunning will be shooting for spots on the state podium this weekend in La Crosse.
Regardless of the results, she’s going to enjoy simply being in the spotlight of the throwing circle on the state’s biggest stage and having fun with teammates, like fellow senior Mabel Kirst, who also qualified in the shot put for a second straight year.
“A lot of people have number goals,” Dunning said. “For me, with my concussion, I feel like I went through one part of my athletic life and now I’m starting fresh and new.
“My goal is to replace my picture from my first team all-state hockey picture with a track picture in our hallway at school. My goal is to make new and better memories and grow off of my experiences. I want to enjoy myself. I want to have fun.”