Danville, Ky. - 

(This is part one of a four-part series with Centre College national champion Chloe Hein).

Chloe Hein is a vibrant, outgoing Centre College senior who has already had a sensational collegiate track career.

She not only won the NCAA Division III Outdoors long jump championship with a school-record lead of 21-1 1/4 inches to go with the indoor national championship she won earlier this year. She won the outdoor title by almost nine inches as only one other competitor went over 20 feet.

Hein tied teammate Serena McNeilly, JP Vaught and Annie Rodenfels for the Centre record for most national championships in a single athletic year.

Hein was also named the Outstanding Female Field Performer at the national championships after finishing fifth in the triple jump with a career-best mark of 40-2 3/4 and also taking fifth in the 100-meter dash in 11.74 seconds. Her three All-American honors makes her an 11-time All-American with another year left to add more.

"When I came to Centre I never would have guessed that I would be doing jumps like this right now," said Hein, "So when I heard two-time national champion this year, I was just like, 'Wait. Who is that?'"

She knows her long jump mark would have been competitive at the Division I level and would have won the Division II national championship.

"The opportunity to be able to show me at my best was really important to me, but also at the same time I don't know how long it took to really sink in because at the end of the year it's such a busy time. You're finishing up with classes. I had finished up my finals literally less than a week before I competed and I finished my final like the day before we left, so that's always a really hectic time," Hein said.  

"But to just just sit, let it sink it and breathe and think about how the season went as a whole, and not just the conclusion, from where I was at when the season started versus where I was at the end was amazing."

So what inspired her at nationals? How did she have her best numbers in the biggest meet of the year with the most pressure?

"During indoor season, I realized my potential. During outdoor I didn't really hit it or come close to that until nationals. I found that really interesting and curious because it is unrealistic to say that you're going to jump your best jump every single meet, but I wanted it to be something that I was comfortable with to be jumping further distances and to be more consistent," Hein said.

"It was hard to produce those jumps during the heat of outdoor season because it's so quick, there's not as many meets, and you're doing very difficult workouts. Your legs are not fresh for any of these meets. When it was time for nationals, I hadn't practiced triple jump much during outdoor because I was very focused on long jump. I really wanted to get the national record (in the long jump) and triple jump is so hard on your legs."

Hein admitted she felt a "lot of pressure" at the Southern Athletic Association meet won by the Colonels to make sure she produced all the points she could. She was fresher for nationals after easing off her training a bit.

"My coaches wanted me to peak at the right time," she said.

Assistant Coach Ernest Mosheleketi knew she could do more in the long jump even when she already had the best jump at nationals and that prodded her to produce her best jump. She said even then she was "barely on the (takeoff) board" when she went 21-1 1/4.

"If I would have been on the board, it would have been a little further, maybe the national record, so that's in your mind," the Centre jumper said. "I think some of the same things happened with triple jump and there's so many different things that could go right to make your jump better. We always knew that I was capable of more and it was just right place, right time.

"Coming in as the underdog, you have the advantage that people don't expect you to do well. I don't know my true potential in triple jump because I've only been doing it this past year since conference indoor. I didn't want to put an expectation on myself. I went in knowing I was the underdog, I went in trying to have fun and I did that."