Record-setting O'Brien close to breakthrough

  • Tommy Braswell
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Posted: Monday, February 13, 2012 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Friday, March 23, 2012 9:52 p.m.
  • Text size: A A A
SPORTS TRACK - Sophomore middle distance runner Dena O'Brien has set several school records for the College of Charleston. Photo/College of Charleston.
/providedSPORTS TRACK - Sophomore middle distance runner Dena O'Brien has set several school records for the College of Charleston. Photo/College of Charleston.

The school records just keep falling for College of Charleston sophomore Dena O'Brien.

Saturday at the Tiger Paw Invitational indoor meet in Clemson, O'Brien broke her own record in the mile run with a time of 4:58.38, the third time she has run the event in under five minutes.

A week earlier at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York, O'Brien won the 5,000 meters in 16:40.39, breaking her own school record of 16:46, which she set when she won the event in the Southern Conference Indoor Championships.

O'Brien currently holds eight school records in cross country and indoor and outdoor track.

So what does O'Brien, a talented runner in high school, attribute to the continuing improvement on the college level?

"I've devoted more time to it. I do all the little things that add up," said O'Brien, who also is a solid student.

O'Brien said her workouts are pretty high mileage, 60-65 miles per week as well as workouts with weights. The team does not have its own track, so

the Cougars train in various locations. They may be run downtown, along the West Ashley Greenway, in I'on and even Magnolia Cemetery. They also work out at James Island Charter High School.

When O'Brien came to the College of Charleston, coach Amy Seago said her times at various distances didn't add up, and as a freshman O'Brien's cross country goal was to break 19 minutes

"We were saying this girl has 18-minute skills, but we didn't want to push too hard, take it one step at a time. She ran 18:05 in her first cross country meet for us. It was a lot of hard work over the summer."

Seago said O'Brien has made big strides in the last year and a half. She has gone from 19:12 to 16:21 in the 5,000-meter outdoor event. And Seago has tried to tone things down a bit for O'Brien and get her to understand the value of pacing.

"She always struggled in pace awareness," Seago said. "Every day she was running as hard and fast as she could. We were trying to get her to understand, from a scientific standpoint, that you can't do that. You need recovery days and need to work different energy systems. I have to pull her back a lot to get the results on the weekends. She has a tendency to go too hard."

Last year O'Brien qualified for the NCAA East Regional track preliminaries, and Seago is hoping for better things this year.

"She's right on the cusp of breaking through," Seago said.

But it's not all about running for the 19-year-old from Pelham, Ala. Last week she was named to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic team for 2011. Making that list requires that a student have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25, and have either earned All-America status or finished in the NCAA region's top 15 (or top 10 percent) in 2011.