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Running is in Dan Chenoweth’s blood, so it was no surprise when he decided to continue his career in college.
Chenoweth chose to take his talents out east to Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. to run for both the cross country and track and field teams.
“I think part of it was that cross country and track has become a big part of my life and I also felt I still had a lot of room to improve,” said Chenoweth of why he decided to run in college. “I also wanted to be a part of a college team.”
The decision to go to Harvard was not an easy one for Chenoweth.
“It was a pretty hard decision, but in the end it was a combination of things, academics and the relationship I built with the coach,” he said. “I thought it would be a fun experience and interesting to try the east coast.
“Going to Harvard, wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it was a little intimidating. In the end being a part of a team helped me because I could get help from my peers.”
Chenoweth said his freshman year was definitely a learning experience.
“College is a whole different level and it took a while to get adjusted to that level of training,” he said. “It took time to get use to the college style of racing, find out what I can do and realistic expectations for myself.”
In his freshman year, Chenoweth received the McLaughlin Award and the Watters Miles Award, along with second team All-Ivy League honors in outdoor track. He placed second in the 3,000 meters at the Indoor IC4A Championships in 8 minutes and 4.72 seconds, which was good enough for third all-time in Harvard history.
During Chenoweth’s sophomore year, he qualified for nationals in cross country where he finished 42nd, but had to deal with injuries during the track season. He also received second-team All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy honors for cross country and first team All-Ivy honors for indoor track.
In his junior year, he again qualified for the cross country nationals where he took 42nd out of 250 runners in 30:23. He also won the Harvard/Yale meet in 24:20, his fastest time on that course, and won the individual title at the Heps Championships, Harvard’s first individual champion since 1995 with a time of 25:09.2.
Running is in Dan Chenoweth’s blood, so it was no surprise when he decided to continue his career in college.
Chenoweth chose to take his talents out east to Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. to run for both the cross country and track and field teams.
“I think part of it was that cross country and track has become a big part of my life and I also felt I still had a lot of room to improve,” said Chenoweth of why he decided to run in college. “I also wanted to be a part of a college team.”
The decision to go to Harvard was not an easy one for Chenoweth.
“It was a pretty hard decision, but in the end it was a combination of things, academics and the relationship I built with the coach,” he said. “I thought it would be a fun experience and interesting to try the east coast.
“Going to Harvard, wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it was a little intimidating. In the end being a part of a team helped me because I could get help from my peers.”
Chenoweth said his freshman year was definitely a learning experience.
“College is a whole different level and it took a while to get adjusted to that level of training,” he said. “It took time to get use to the college style of racing, find out what I can do and realistic expectations for myself.”
In his freshman year, Chenoweth received the McLaughlin Award and the Watters Miles Award, along with second team All-Ivy League honors in outdoor track. He placed second in the 3,000 meters at the Indoor IC4A Championships in 8 minutes and 4.72 seconds, which was good enough for third all-time in Harvard history.
During Chenoweth’s sophomore year, he qualified for nationals in cross country where he finished 42nd, but had to deal with injuries during the track season. He also received second-team All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy honors for cross country and first team All-Ivy honors for indoor track.
In his junior year, he again qualified for the cross country nationals where he took 42nd out of 250 runners in 30:23. He also won the Harvard/Yale meet in 24:20, his fastest time on that course, and won the individual title at the Heps Championships, Harvard’s first individual champion since 1995 with a time of 25:09.2.
He earned first team All-Ivy League honors in indoor track and cross country and was All-Regional for cross country.
“My junior year of cross country was pretty good, but I got sick at the end of the season and placed the same at nationals, which was disappointing,” he said. “In track, I ran some good times early in the season, but I had a stress fracture that ended my season.”
In his final year at Harvard, he captured the Harvard/Yale Meet title for the third consecutive year in 25:10.70, took second at the Heps to earn first team All-Ivy League and came in third at the NCAA Regionals to earn a spot on the All-Northeast Region Team for the third straight year.
He also posted a career- best time of 8:01.50 in the 3,000 at the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational and ran a career-best time of 13:57.61 for first place in the 5,000 at the Colonial Relays.
Chenoweth recorded the second fastest time in Harvard history and a lifetime best of 13:45.92 in the 5,000-m race at Payton Jordan Cardinal. He also ran his lifetime best in the 10,000 to place second at the Heptagonal Championships and earn All-Ivy second-team honors.
“In terms of doing everything I wanted to there were some disappointments,” said Chenoweth. “I had a strong cross country season, but in track I was fighting an infection. It didn’t end the way I wanted.”
“Overall, I had a lot of faith in my coach and we did what we could,” he said. “With running, if something goes wrong you have to step back and look at the journey. Overall, I am happy with the experience and I had a good time.”
Chenoweth said some of the highlights of his years at Harvard include winning the Ivy Leagues in cross country his junior year, making it to nationals and also running the 5K at Stanford.
The biggest challenge Chenoweth had to overcome was the uncontrollable, injury and illness.
“My injuries were nothing big, just the small things you have to work around and figure out what you need to change,” he said.
When Chenoweth began this journey he had high expectations and he said in some ways he accomplished what he set out to do and in other ways he fell short.
“I hoped for higher finishes and I always want more,” said Chenoweth. “I think I exceeded my expectations because of the people I met and seeing my hard work pay off. However, I didn’t win all the meets I would have liked.”
Chenoweth said one thing that surprised him about attending Harvard was the people.
“Going in I was worried about the people being nerdy or stuck up, but I was surprised by how similar to the people back home they were,” he said. “People are people and I have met some good friends.”
Chenoweth graduated in the spring 2011 with a bachelors degree in sociology.
He will continue his education in graduate school and take advantage of another year of eligibility in outdoor track.
With another year of outdoor track, Chenoweth hopes to go after an All-American award and also hit a qualifying time to get into the Olympic trials.
“The Olympic trials are something I have thought about for a little while and I thought it was a good way to cap my career off,” said Chenoweth. “It is a good challenge to get into the trials and to just say I did it.
“I’ve always been about the competitive side of things and I enjoy racing and testing myself against others. With running there is a very direct correlation between the work you put in and what you get out.”
