Wednesday, June 10, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.- Heidi Dahl makes her last run as a member of the East Tennessee State track team this week, and she has a chance to go out with a bang.

The senior from Utah will be competing in the 1,500 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Dahl is fresh off a victory at the Mideast Regional, where she outdueled Tennessee's Sarah Bowman, a six-time All-American and the defending national champion in the indoor mile.

That solidified her status as a real contender for the title come Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

"Obviously winning the regional was a huge accomplishment for Heidi and a wonderful representation for our program at the national level," said ETSU coach Michelle Byrne. "I think she's peaking at the right time. We have to focus on going out Thursday and making the final. Once she's there, she has as good a chance as anybody."

Dahl's career at ETSU has been short and mostly sweet. She had only a year of eligibility left after running at Brigham Young, near her hometown of Orem, and at Tennessee.

Dahl, who landed in Johnson City because her husband, David, is attending medical school here, has already rewritten school and conference records in the mile, 1,500 and 800. She has made winning look easy while quietly going about her business.

Byrne calls her "quietly, doggedly determined."

"I really just wanted an opportunity to keep running, and I've gotten that here," said Dahl. "My times so far haven't been quite what I wanted, but I've won some races and it's been fun."

Coming from a family of nine children, Dahl will likely see how far running will take her at the next level. In the meantime, she’ll earn a music degree while her husband finishes up his last year of school here. She reportedly has an outstanding singing voice - her specialty is opera, no less - though she doesn't often show it off.

"She's a phenomenal singer," said Byrne. "The woman is multi-talented, but she's reserved and very humble, so you wouldn't know. That's what makes her so much fun to work with ... she's extremely intelligent and has so many interests outside the world of track and field."