In high school, she was fast. so fast she was named one of Alabama’s all-state cross-country runners her junior year. So fast she earned that honor again her senior year. Still, no matter how quick her pace, Dena O’Brien could not quite run a mile in less than five minutes.
At the College, that albatross did not hang around her neck for long. At her first collegiate meet, she broke the five-minute mark, and she’s since run personal bests left and right during her freshman year, competing for both the cross-country and track teams. In the process, a slew of school records have fallen, including the 6k in cross-country; the mile, 3k and 5k for indoor track; and the 1,500-meter, 3k and 5k records for outdoor track.
In April, while competing at the SoCon Outdoor Track and Field Championships, O’Brien continued her dominance, winning the 5,000-meter race and placing runner-up in the 1,500 meter, breaking her own newly established school record. Even by a runner’s speedy standards, O’Brien has been off to an especially fast start at the College.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Amy Seago, head coach of both the women’s cross-country and track and field teams.
Last fall, Seago worked with O’Brien to improve her pace during long-distance training runs of 10 miles. One week, says Seago, O’Brien was running each mile in 6:45. The next week, her pace improved to 6:30. And the next week it was even better at 6:15 a mile.
Seago documented these results, and then regularly met with O’Brien to discuss her progress and boost her confidence. Having evidence of her improvement was important to O’Brien, and Seago urged her young runner not only to focus on the challenges ahead, but to remember victories past. Like any good runner, O’Brien is always looking a few steps ahead, but Seago wanted to make sure her freshman phenom wasn’t glossing over the meaningful ground she had already covered, encouraging O’Brien to recognize her accomplishments.
Echoing Seago is O’Brien’s father, Tim, who is a mainstay at his daughter’s athletic events. “He’s the one who reminds me how hard I worked,” says O’Brien. “‘Here’s what you have done – you need to embrace that.’”
In June, O’Brien competed in the 5,000-meter race at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East Regional in Bloomington, Ind. She finished 10th in her heat with a time of 16 minutes and 35.63 seconds, narrowly missing qualification for the NCAA championship, but nonetheless capping an impressive freshman year. Next season, she’ll have the regionals experience to remember as a benchmark, and plenty more school records to break, even if most of them are already her own.
Seago, for one, can’t wait to see what happens.
“She’s phenomenal,” says Seago. “I think the sky’s the limit.”
