Dawn Harper-Nelson educated at East St. Louis Senior High School
High school and collegiate career
In high school, Harper showed much promise in the sport by winning her first IHSA 2A state championship and breaking the Illinois state record in the 100m hurdles her freshman year with a time of 14.03. In her freshman year, she also won the 300m hurdles with a time of 42.70. Her sophomore year was met with much adversity when she tore her posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and meniscus before the IHSA sectional meet. With a torn PCL and meniscus, Harper still earned a silver medal in the 100m hurdles, but the discomfort moved her coach, Nino Fennoy, to scratch her from the 300m hurdle finals. She broke her own Illinois state record in the 100m hurdles her junior year with a time of 13.54. That record time still currently stands. Senior year Harper came back and defended her titles winning her third state final in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.82 and the 300m hurdles. Harper graduated from East St. Louis Senior High as a 6-time IHSA state champion.
During her time with the UCLA Bruins, Harper won the sprint hurdles at the US Junior Championships and at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. She received All-American honours twice at the 2004 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship, after coming eighth in the 100 m hurdles final and taking second place in the 4×100-meter relay.
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