Leo at large: High schooler joins rare air with blazing fast mile in El Dorado Hills
Once he charged through the finish line Saturday night in El Dorado County and right on into racing history, Leo Daschbach suddenly hit his wall.
He sat down on the track. The senior from Highland High of Gilbert, Arizona, then stood. He soaked in some of the crisp El Dorado Hills air to collect himself before losing a lot of himself.
Vomit splashed off the Oak Ridge High School track, prompting a cheer from fellow runners and a small group of area distance enthusiasts who caught wind of the run and showed up.
“It’s all chicken and rice,” Daschbach said with a laugh, pointing at the debris. No one was grossed out by this scene because there was a sense of awe in the air.
Daschbach became the fourth prep runner to break the mythical four-minute mile in a high school-only race and the 11th to do so all-time. The 5-foot-8 lad with a shock of blondish hair, green eyes and piston legs cruised four times around the Oak Ridge track in 3 minutes, 59.54 seconds, using a finishing lean to seal it. He covered his first lap in 59.4 seconds and his final one in 56.81. He barreled through his final, frantic 100 meters in 13 seconds, the clock at the finish line bright enough for all to see.
Daschbach is the first high schooler to break 4 minutes in California in 53 years, since Marty Liqouri of New Jersey in the AAU Track & Field Championships in Bakersfield.
“Absolutely didn’t think I’d be able to do it, not because I doubted myself but because it’s just so hard to do; every miler dreams of doing it,” Daschbach said. “It wasn’t that long ago when breaking 4 minutes was thought to be humanly impossible.”
Pulling this race off also requires something of an extraordinary feat.
The runners here hailed from across the country — Arizona, Colorado, California. They competed to salvage something from a lost season, brought together by Matt Strangio of Sacramento’s Jesuit High. Teenagers across the country had their senior year of activity halted due to the global coronavirus pandemic. This event included an official timer and two USA Track & Field officials to certify it, and it happened because the Oak Ridge track is not closed, unlike other facilities across the region, due to virus-spread concerns.
Oak Ridge track coach Bob Wright flipped on the stadium lights, which revealed people social distancing on the infield and in the stands.
Strangio worked with MileSplit.com, which expertly covers this sport, to put this together. The race was aptly named the “Quarantine Clasico” — all in good fun to dull the downer of a truncated spring. Strangio surely would have given Daschbach a run to the wire. He had the best mile time of this star-studded lot coming in at 4:03.57.
But Strangio could not run because of a nagging shin splint. He blames himself. After attempting his own sub-4 last month at Oak Ridge, Strangio did not ease off the gas in training for another shot at his place in history.
Extra high-fives — or elbow bumps — are in order for Strangio, his attitude and approach. He also lost a lot this spring, including a shot at a CIF State Track threepeat to go with his two cross country state championship medals. He was on the fast track to becoming the most-decorated regional runner in history.
But Strangio doesn’t mope. He plots, plans and executes. He would make for a fine meet coordinator down the road.
“Disappointed I couldn’t run but excited for Leo,” said Strangio, who may give the sub-4 one last crack this summer. “I’m happy with how this turned out. Pretty cool.”
More cool: the winner’s trophy. It’s a clunky little thing, as charming as it is heavy. It was from an early 1960s Bay Area-held Dipsea Race, the oldest cross-country trail running event in the country.
Longtime race enthusiast and MileSplit photographer Dan Tyree of Sacramento bought the 6-inch-high trophy at an antique shop years ago, then unearthed it from the dust pile of his garage for this event. A tiny piece of paper was slapped across the front with Scotch tape: “Quarantine Clasico.”
“This,” Daschbach said with a grin in accepting the goods from Strangio, “is the coolest trophy.”
So was his journey to reach history.
Growing up in Arizona, Daschbach didn’t attempt running until he was in the seventh grade. He wasn’t a fan, so he tried soccer. He didn’t like running in pursuit of a ball, so he tried his hand in distance running again, got hooked, earned a scholarship to Washington and became the first prep from Arizona to break 4 minutes.
Cole Sprout of Colorado, headed to Stanford, was second in 4:04.50. Thomas Boyden of Utah, headed to Stanford, ran a 4:04.50 in placing third. All seven runners clocked personal bests.
Each flew in on their own dollar. It was worth every penny.
“I hung out with the guys on Friday then more by myself (on Saturday before the race),” Daschbach said. “I didn’t want to break anyone’s heart.”
Milers: Legs attached to guys rooted in humor.