Remembering Steph

Annual run draws record support and sobering pledges

November 6, 2007

Participants in the third-annual Run for Steph at the start of the 5K run/2-mile walk on the last day of Homecoming & Family Weekend.

The third-annual Run for Steph 5K/2-mile walk on Nov. 4 raised $3,042 and attracted a record 164 participants, including the parents of the late Stephanie Kreiner, Jane Kreiner Preto and John Kreiner.

Stephanie Kreiner and her friend Amy Rankin, both from the class of ’03, were walking near the White Marsh Mall in Baltimore on Oct. 30, 2004, when a drunken motorist, traveling more than 50 mph in a 15-mph zone, lost control of his pickup truck, careened off the road and struck the two women. Kreiner was killed at the scene and Rankin suffered a severe and permanent brain injury.

The Run for Steph keeps Kreiner’s memory alive, thanks to the volunteer efforts by the women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams, the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and biology majors.

Life cut short

The loss of their daughter is a constant, searing source of pain for Jane, John and all who knew Stephanie, a biology major at Dickinson who wanted to become a nurse.

Many of the participants in the Run for Steph signed pledges to not drink and drive, and before the event Jane reminded everyone to keep that pledge.

Participants and volunteers included current and former Dickinson students, faculty and staff. Kreiner was a star on the lacrosse team and kept statistics for the field hockey team. Event volunteers wore bright green shirts, a color chosen because it matched Stephanie’s “vibrant personality,” said Alison Risser, head field hockey coach.

Money raised at the event will go to the McAndrew’s Fund for Athletics at Dickinson.

‘You never get past it’

After the last walker crossed the finish line and the crowd thinned out at the Kline Center, Jane and John, who divorced but remain friends, walked over to the dogwood planted in honor of their daughter. Under the tree, John swept away leaves that had obscured the plaque’s words, “In loving memory of Stephanie L. Kreiner ’03. Dedicated May 2005 by her many Dickinson Friends." Jane looked on quietly, her head bowed.

“You never get past it. It’s a bad hand we were dealt, and there isn't a day that goes by …” John said, leaving the sentence unfinished. “It’s just hard.”

Returning to Dickinson, to participate in the Run for Steph and share memories with their daughter’s many friends, helps in the unending process of recovery, both parents said. “Coming back here energizes me,” Jane said. “You just feel the energy from everyone. This place meant so much to her.”

“It’s overwhelming,” John said. “For the college to have something like this for Steph is phenomenal. She loved it here.”