Dana Harper Ferris Year: Soph. Sport: Track Event: Sprints

Dana Harper sent a message guaranteed to give rivals in the starting blocks a nervous twitch.

The Ferris sophomore, who put up the eighth-fastest Class AAA time in the 400 meters last spring, went out and won the three sprints in the Banana Belt Relays in Clarkston last weekend.

In the process, he lowered his personal best in the 400 to 49.82 seconds.

“I’m really surprised, very happy, too,” Harper said after the 11.21 in the 100 and 22.84 in the 200. “I felt really good. Those are great times for the beginning of the season.”

The powerful runner credited hard work, discipline and the help of his coach, James Fischer, for the great start. A winter of periodic running and biking after football season gave him a good training base.

Despite Harper’s triple win, the sophomore said he’s a 400 runner first.

“Track is a way for me to express my feelings, let it all out when I get frustrated,” he said.

“(In the 400), if you mess up, you still have a chance … to make it up, come back and win it if you want to.”

Harper said he hadn’t really looked too far down the road for major goals, but one was to run a 48-second 400 to win districts.

“Mostly just to dominate this year,” he said.

He’s off to a good start.