Athlete: Dana Klein
Year: Senior
School: Gill St. Bernard’s School
Location: Gladstone, NJ
1600m PR: 4:53.69
3200m PR: 10:37.70
Dana Klein of New Jersey, who has made a series of breakthroughs despite running as few as 20 to 25 miles a week, is gearing up for her biggest race yet: the Penn Relays girls’ invitational 3,000m on April 24 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Klein, a senior at Gill St. Bernard’s in Gladstone, N.J., qualified for Penn with her upset win in the 3200m at the New Jersey Indoor Meet of Champions in February. Seeded sixth going into the race, she ran 10:37.70, easily besting her 10:59.89 PR from January.
Penn Relays 3,000m: Klein will toe the line next Thursday in one of the most anticipated individual races in the high school program. It will be her first time racing at Penn Relays. “It’s an honor to compete on such a big stage,” she says. The race will feature a rematch between national cross country and indoor track champion Tessa Barrett DAA Industry Opt Out Hannah DeBalsi, the sensational sophomore from Connecticut.
Moving Up: Until this year, Klein was primarily an 800m and mile specialist who was reluctant to move up in distance. After her much-improved cross country season last fall, placing sixth in the state Meet of Champions on the rugged Holmdel Park 5K course, Klein gained confidence and kept working on her strength in practice. In the winter, David DeWolfe, her coach at Gill St. Bernard’s, told Dana she could use her excellent kick to her advantage if she was able to stick with the lead pack in a 3200m.
Races - Places: When Klein ran her first 3200m in the Somerset County indoor championships held at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., last December, she triumphed by 15 seconds in 11:15.16. Then, at the Skylands Conference meet a month later, also at Lehigh, Klein dipped under 11 minutes with a 10:59.89 victory, her PR going into the Meet of Champs. Klein also won the conference mile in 5:13.01.
State Shocker: Spectators were stunned to see Klein run shoulder-to-shoulder with Mackenzie Barry of Mendham, a highly decorated, Providence-bound senior, at the N.J. Meet of Champions. With 400m to go, Klein pulled away to win by 35 meters and run her 10:37.70 qualifier for Penn. “I proved to myself that I do belong in that kind of competition, at the state and national level,” she says.
Low Mileage: Klein may do the least volume of any distance runner of her caliber in the nation. After logging 40 miles a week of base work last summer, with some 10-milers on country trails, Klein lowered that to 30 to 35 a week in the winter (doing a lot of workouts in the school parking lot because of the snow) and reduced that tally again to its current 20 to 25 for the spring season. Her longest runs are 4 miles twice a week—one recovery run, the other a tempo run. Otherwise, she’s on the track working on her speed.
Fresh Legs: On that modest program, Klein, who turns 18 in May, should take fresh legs and untapped potential into college. With a 3.9 GPA, Klein is going to Yale and expects to pursue the humanities. At Gill St. Bernard’s, Klein has excelled in courses like AP literature, AP psychology and philosophy.
Victory List: Klein is the first girls’ Meet of Champions winner in the school’s history. She was also the state Private/Parochial Class B champion in cross country last fall and in the 800m and 1600m last spring. It’s been a steady ascent for Klein, whose best races, in her first full year of running as a sophomore, were some 800m runs around 2:20. “Dana’s come such a long way,” DeWolfe says, “it speaks to how much farther she can go in college and beyond.”
Switching Sports: Klein played soccer in her youth and continued as a ninth grader. After suffering two concussions that season, she gave up soccer for track and was smitten right away. “I loved racing,” she says. “I just wanted to get better and improve my times.”
Spring Goals: Even with her 3200m breakthrough, Klein is leaning toward returning to the 1600m for this spring’s outdoor N.J. Meet of Champions, June 4, in South Plainfield. Last June, in her first track breakthrough, Klein placed sixth in the Meet of Champions 1600m in 4:53.69, a 6-second PR. She’s clearly a big-meet runner who knows how to peak, and she’ll be looking to break 4:50 in June. “I like to step up to the level of competition,” Klein says.
Pure Passion: Underpinning Klein’s success is the enlightenment she feels while running, and her desire to pass on that positive energy to younger teammates. “I want them to do the sport because they love it and find the passion,” she says. “Like a way of life.”
Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.
