Illinois Native Displays Grit, Talent in First Season

Dan Chenoweth puts his shoes on just like the rest of us, one at a time. Except, once his shoes are on, he runs really, really fast.

The freshman from Geneseo, Ill. made a resounding impact on Harvard cross country and track this season with his ability to compete near the top in almost every competition he participated in.

“[Dan’s] been one of many newcomers to really change the culture of the program,” head coach Jason Saretsky said.

The list of Chenoweth’s accomplishments in his rookie campaign is already quite long. In the indoor IC4A Championships, he provisionally qualified in the 3K for the NCAA Championships with a dauntingly quick time of 8:04.72.

The time was good enough for second place at the IC4A event and also made him the second fastest true freshman in the nation—third among all rookies—and put him just under eight seconds behind Ian Carswell ’97’s school record, which he set in his senior season.

“It was something that I knew Dan had the potential of doing,” Saretsky said of Chenoweth’s IC4A race. “The key was how he handled the success. He didn’t change his approach and stayed the same humble guy as before.”

Just four weeks later, Chenoweth upped the ante by qualifying in the 5K for the NCAA Regional Championships in just the third meet of the outdoor season—the Sam Howell Invitational.

While most student-athletes use the early races as warmups, the newcomer’s time of 14:07.34 shed any doubt that Chenoweth is a major factor on the Crimson roster, especially since the event was Chenoweth’s first outdoor 5K as a collegian.

“It’s definitely exciting to go out there for your first time and get the mark that matters for the postseason,” co-captain Brian Holmquest said. “If you’re there that early in the season, [it] just shows how you’ll be up to good stuff.”

“I’ve always been a big believer that if you run the race to win the race, the time will take care of itself,” Saretsky added. “In Dan’s case, the time just took care of itself.”

But what characterized Chenoweth this season was his gutsy attitude towards running. He showed no hesitation in testing his pain threshold in the pursuit of victory.

At the outdoor Heptagonals at Yale, Chenoweth fell at around the 2000-meter mark in the 5000-meter run. Instinctively, the freshman picked himself up and, sitting dead last, made his way through the pack.

At one point Chenoweth took the outright lead before finishing second in the home stretch to Princeton’s senior Dave Nightingale by only .03 of a second.

“That race was really a great illustration of why Dan is a great competitor,” Saretsky said. “Falling down in arguably one of the biggest races of his career thus far, he gets up, doesn’t worry about it, and gets back to the front. It’s really an insight into his character.”

For Chenoweth to already be competing alongside and beating some of the older, more experienced runners in the league is truly a testament to his work ethic.

And if his winning ways continue for the next three seasons, the sky’s the limit for the rookie.

“Dan’s setting a good example about how you can go out there and compete with the best guys in the Ivy League and the best guys in the IC4A,” Holmquest said, adding that Chenoweth possesses “that broadening the horizons aspect.”

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.