Venice Track Star Follows in Dad’s Spike Marks

Venice High track Coach Chris Hieatt knew he had a special runner when he first saw Danny Jordan. He was so far in front of the others in a workout among 10th-graders that Hieatt couldn’t help but notice.

“I saw him run and I said, ‘Who is this guy?’ ” Hieatt recalled. He believed Jordan had the most potential for middle-distances of any runner he has seen in his six years as head of the Venice program. “You could see it right off.”

Now a year later, Jordan, an 11th-grader, is fast becoming one of the most formidable milers in the City Section and among the best in the state.

At the recent Arcadia Invitational, the country’s premier regular-season meet, Jordan ran a personal best 4:16.84 in 1,600 meters, finishing 10th in a strong field of 18 and setting the fastest mark this season in City. And not under the best of circumstances.

That was two days after a Coastal Conference Western League meet against University High in 106-degree heat. By running an 800-1,600-3,200-meter triple in the scorching weather, Jordan led Venice to a 66-60 win, its first victory over University since 1974.

To say that a runner of Jordan’s ability only comes around once in 25 years might be more than a little accurate, give or take a year. It was in 1963 that his father, a senior at Crescenta Valley High, ran a 4:16.3 mile, the ninth fastest prep mark in the United States at the time.

Now the track coach at Glendale High, Jim Jordan can see his son doing even better than just following in his footsteps.

“I’m confident he’s going to go under that time (which converts to 4:14.8 for 1,600 meters) this year,” Jim predicted. “Danny definitely has more leg speed than I had. When you’ve got that basic speed you can do a lot with it.”

Coach Hieatt agrees, “Soon he’s going to be sub-60 on his last lap. He’s loaded with speed. If he concentrated on the quarter, he’d run sub-50.”

In the eighth and ninth grades, Jordan used that speed exclusively on tennis courts. It wasn’t until he ran an informally measured mile distance in gym class at the Palms Junior High Gifted Magnet School that he gave serious consideration to switching sports. His sub-five-minute time, without the benefit of training, helped convince him.

“I got a lot of confidence from that,” Jordan said.

On the courts at 6-1, 155 pounds, he played as No. 3 singles with the varsity tennis team in the 10th grade before deciding to concentrate on track. His best time that year at 1,600 meters was 4:23.3 at the Arcadia meet in open competition.

Jordan is enrolled in advanced placement classes in chemistry and history and has a 3.8 grade-point average, even with so much time devoted to track. In addition to afternoon workouts with the team, Jordan puts in three mile runs before school with teammate Julio Moreno, another talented junior.

Being a coach, Jim Jordan is more than pleased with Hieatt and his program and appreciates the work Hieatt has done for his son.

“His program puts the kids first and he doesn’t pound them,” Jim Jordan said. “You get a young kid with some talent, and with an inexperienced coach it happens. Sometimes they push them a little too fast in workouts and in terms of their expectations. But Chris is right on, in my opinion.

“That athlete-coach relationship is something that’s special. Dan and Chris have a nice rapport. He really cares about Dan. And Dan really likes and respects Chris. They’ve got a good thing going. I can’t be more pleased.”

Jim Jordan, who competed for Occidental College under Jim Bush and ran a 4:12.7 mile, believes that his son is even more competitive.

“I remember myself as being more timid and shy,” Jordan said. “It took a while before I figured out that if I did things right that I could be good. And Dan has shown that spark from the very beginning.”

And unlike in junior high, the young Jordan has started to appreciate serious training.

“The most obvious thing about being in shape is that in a mile race you can go through the first half under 2:10 and feel relaxed,” he said. “And that feels all right.”