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Carroll grad picks up pace at OSU

The sophomore from Xenia is now one of the top 1,500-meter runners in the Big Ten.

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By Dave Long, Contributing Writer Updated 12:05 PM Thursday, April 23, 2009

No more running in the back of the pack for Jordan Jennewine.

The combination of a new coach, new attitude and a more grueling training regiment has transformed the Ohio State sophomore into one of the top 1,500- meter runners in the Big Ten.

A Xenia resident and 2007 Carroll High School, Jennewine was named the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week on April 1. She was given the award for winning the 1,500 at the North Carolina State Reebok Raleigh Relays on March 28.

Coming from behind on the last lap of the metric mile against a field of 26 other runners, Jennewine was clocked in 4 minutes, 26.65 seconds.

That is the second fastest time in the event in OSU history and betters her personal record at distance by almost 20 seconds. It also surpassed qualifying standard of 4:27.3 for the NCAA Regionals in Louisville, Ky. May 29-30.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I envision being at this level,” she said. “I knew I was getting better with the way I had been training over the winter. But I never expected to drop that much time.

“I thought I might start taking a few seconds off here and there. Maybe by next season to be around 4:30 or lower. I’m really surprised I ran that fast and obviously very pleased.”

Jennewine was a 800/1,600 meter runner in high school. Her best time in the 1,600 was in the 5:20 range and 2:18 in the 800. She qualified to the state Division II cross country meet, twice finishing 23rd as a senior.

“I picked Ohio State mainly for the academics,” said Jennewine. “I’m majoring in health sciences (with a 3.65 grade point average) and want to go into sports medicine and physical therapy.

Jennewine was just another runner in the pack as a freshman in both cross country and track, getting used to the training demands of a college runner.

Her 2008 cross country season was not as productive as she hoped it would.

“I was getting kind of frustrated and was ready for a new direction,” she said.

That direction came from Chris Neal, a new assistant coach hired last year by OSU women’s head coach Karen Dennis to handle the middle and long distance runners.

Neal had success with runners at Tulane University in New Orleans where he had been an assistant for three years.

“I sat down with Jordan after cross country and laid out what I thought it would take for her to reach the potential I saw in her,” said Neal. “She’s a natural for the 800/1500 because she’s tall (5-foot-11), strong and has a long stride.

“It was matter of building up both her endurance and speed and getting into the right eating and sleeping habits.”

Jennewine made the changes, but not without some adjustments. “Learning to eat right wasn’t too tough,” she said. “Getting enough sleep was harder because there’s always so much happening around campus.”

She not only changed her eating and sleeping patterns, but upped her mileage from 35 per week to 70 or more. “I was doing 4-6 miles per day. Coach Chris upped that to 10-12,” she said. “We also got a new strength coach who got us on a different lifting regiment two or three days a week and doing more work on the core muscles every day.

“I’m also doing more speed work. Now I have more endurance to maintain a faster pace throughout the race and that burst of speed you need at the end.”

Next on the agenda for Jennewine is learning how to run more strategic races in both the 800 and 1,500. “I know I have to get more aggressive and learn how to use my elbows when I run in a pack,” she said. “I have to learn how to hold my space, not get boxed in and not let other runners dictate the line they want me to take.

“I’m big enough and strong enough that I don’t get pushed around too much. A lot of the race is being aware what is going on around you, being able to judge what the other runners are going and making adjustments.”

The next goal time-wise is to make the qualifying standard for the NCAA Regionals in the 800 which is 2:09.8. Her best time thus far is 2:11.7.

The OSU schedule has Jennewine running at the Drake Relays this weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, April 23-25) before coming home for the Jesse Owens Classic and Big Ten met in May.

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