Leo Daschbach of Highland High announced on Thursday his commitment to run for the University of Washington. Daschbach posted on instagram- "Arizona bum becomes a husky...guess you could call me a hot dawg."
Daschbach's announcement comes just days after he ventured to Fresno, California and faced off against several of the best in California at the Clovis Invitational, running 14:30.9 to place second to Nico Young of Newbury Park in California, who won in 14:28.9. Daschbach also threw down the gauntlet at the Nike Desert Twilight Festival last month, setting an All-Time Arizona 5km record and US No. 2 all-time performance of 14:14.26.
Daschbach owns personal bests of 50.27 in the 400m, 1:51.99 in the 800m, 3:49.43 in the 1,500m, and 4:03.98 in the full mile and 8:51.09 in the 3,200m.
Just two weekends ago, Daschbach made his official visit to Washington and met with Coach Andy Powell and the UW men in Seattle. This weekend, the Huskies will travel to Terre Haute, Indiana for their final meet before the championship portion of their season. As of October 8th, the men of Washington were ranked 4th in the country by USTFCCCA.
Daschbach On His Commitment To Washington
What was the deciding factor that made you commit to the University of Washington?
I think that specifically for me and how I train, Andy Powell and Chris Kwiatkowski are the coaches that would make me the runner that I want to be. Andy's training style is my training style, and I felt like I really connected with them.
Coach Powell has a lot of experience developing national caliber milers like Andrew Wheating, Matt Centrowitz and Edward Cheserek. What do you like about his coaching style/philosophy?
I like the way he structures his season. He showed me a lot of specific workouts and how he develops you throughout the season taking your goals, both short term and long term, to make you the best that you can be. It's very individualized, and it was clear that he wants to make a great miler I want to be a great miler. We had a really good connection and I could tell it was the best situation for me.
Have you decided on a major, and if not, what draws you academically to the University of Washington? Did you get a chance to sit in on any lectures?
I think I want to major in nutrition. I think it's a good situation to be a student-athlete at Washington. When I went on my visit, I got to sit in on a lecture in a psychology-based class with four freshman athletes.
Seattle will offer a dramatic change in scenery which I'm sure you're excited to experience. What will you miss the most about Arizona and what will you miss the least?
I'm gonna miss the sunny days and the openness of suburban life. I don't think there's a thing about Arizona that I'm not gonna' miss.
You're good at just about every distance you try, but is there an event that you would like to make your specialty in college?
I think I'd like to specialize at the 1500m. Everyone wants to be a miler.
On Daschbach's commitment to Washington, Highland Head Coach Dave Montgomery shared, "From talking to and emailing the three schools Leo was interested in, Washington reached out the most to me, which was very impressive as a high school coach. I think the school, the team, and the coaching is a good fit for Leo."
According to Coach Montgomery, Powell arranges very similar workouts to what they run at Highland, without an excess of mileage. In addition to the tone and feel of the program, Daschbach will certainly fit in very well with their crop of mid-distance talent including Talon Hull, Sam Affolder, Daniel Maton.
The season's not over for Daschbach. Next month, he'll be aiming to break the course record at the legendary Cave Creek Golf Course at the State Championships and will hopefully turn his sights toward a national title in December. Next spring, Daschbach wants to crush every distance record on the track, and even intends run a sub 4-minute mile.
Check out more coverage on Leo Daschbach.