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Dobbins is player of the year finalist as dual sport athlete
MALDEN, Mo. - Angela Dobbins was in Junior High School when she was introduced to track and field.
Her older sister, Shamya Dobbins, qualified for the MSHSAA Class 2 State Track and Field Championships in 2019. Shamya, along with her Green Wave teammates, competed in the 4x100m and 4x200m relays. Angela said she instantly fell in love with the sport while watching her sister perform on the state level. She decided she would also try out for the track team.
“I thought I’d get into track because literally everyone was doing it,” Dobbins said. “I loved track from the first time I participated. It was a no-brainer after that on whether I should join the team.”
Now, as a recent Malden High School graduate, Angela was able to lead the Green Wave to a fourth place team title at the State Track and Field Championships.
Angela was All-State in all of her individual events, earning top three in each. She placed third in the 100m dash, second in the high jump and won first place in the long jump. She was also a member of the 4x100m relay team which took second place at the state championships.
“Going to state with only five girls, we didn’t think it was going to be easy,” Dobbins said. “The girls are just really good this year and our 4x1 got second place. Then we finished fourth place (as a team) with only that many girls. We definitely trained a lot. When we got (to state), we knew it was a business trip and not a play trip.”
Angela finished her high school track career with four All-State honors in 10 different events along with becoming a state champion in the long jump this past season.
Athletic.net has a database which records track performances back to at least 2004, when the website first opened. According to Athletic.net, Angela holds the fastest time at Malden High School history in the 100m at 12.26 seconds. She also was on the 4x100m team which set a school record on Athletic.net at 49.84 seconds and on the 4x200m which held the fastest time for the Malden Green Wave track team with a time of 1:47.
Athletic.net also shows Angela having the high jump and long jump records. Her high jump set the record at 5 feet and 7 inches while her long jump was 18 feet and 6 inches.
Head track coach Brian Vent said Angela had a good career at Malden and he is proud of her achievements.
“You can’t replace her,” Vent said. “She’s a high character kid and great in the classroom. As a coach, you hope to develop and kind of see them mature and grow and she has exceeded our expectations so she will be missed.”
The track season, for Vent and his athletes, began with preseason training in February.
He said his athletes worked hard for those four months leading up to the state championship in May and it eventually paid off.
While her focus and work helped her be successful on the track, Angela said she feels like a natural athlete in a lot of cases.
Along with earning All-State and earning a finalist spot for track athlete of the year at the Semoball Awards, Angela was also nominated for the Semoball awards volleyball player of the year.
According to Angela, volleyball was a sport she never even considered playing until her sophomore year of high school when she joined. She said she was persuaded by the peer pressure of her friends who were on the team.
“Everyone wondered why I didn’t play as a freshman,” Angela said. “I went up and hit one ball and everyone kept trying to convince me to play. I wasn’t going to do it. I didn’t want to do a ‘girly’ sport and wear tiny spandex but when I got past that point I really enjoyed playing. I actually had a lot of fun.”
Angela said she improved as a volleyball player in her first season as a sophomore and continued to progress every year.
Jennifer Sokolova returned to Malden as the head volleyball coach this past season. Sokolova said she was the assistant coach years ago before leaving Malden High School. When she came back to coach this season, she already knew about Angela’s athletic stardom at Malden.
“I only got to coach Angela for her senior year,” Sokolova said. “I have always heard at our school how much of an all around athlete Angela was. When she came out to open gyms in the summer, I knew that she was going to dominate in her position.”
Predominantly as a front row player, Angela saw herself begin to have more consistent hits and kills as she progressed. She has also improved in serving and passing from the back row when she is placed there defensively.
Angela was named All-Conference Player of the Year this season and earned All-District honors. Despite this being her last season, she is happy she joined the volleyball team at Malden High School.
“That feeling when you get a kill and you have your whole team around you is a really good feeling,” Angela said. “I just stuck with it and it has gotten better every year.”
Angela has decided to pursue a post-secondary education at Eastern Illinois University where she will continue her career as a track athlete.