After capturing Division 1 individual title, leading Hawks to first team championship since 2011, Washington signee is not expected to race at NXR Southwest or beyond in an effort to let injured left knee heal

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

During one of the most memorable high school cross country seasons in recent memory, with the top two boys 3-mile performances in history and three of the top four all-time prep 5-kilometer efforts being achieved, there have been as many as seven athletes who have demonstrated the ability to become a national champion at Nike Cross Nationals or the Foot Locker Championships in December.

After Saturday, there might be one less name among that elite list of contenders.

LEO DASCHBACH INTERVIEW AT ARIZONA STATE MEET

Following a 5-kilometer victory in 15 minutes, 27.7 seconds at the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division 1 state final, leading Highland to its first team championship since 2011, Washington-bound senior Leo Daschbach indicated it would likely be his last race of the year in an effort to allow a left knee injury to heal for the upcoming track season.

“I’m probably going to call it a season here just because of the injury,” said Daschbach, who helped Highland run the second-fastest team time in Cave Creek course history at 80:05, trailing only the 2013 Division 1 state championship team from Corona del Sol (79:50).

“I decided to still run this because there was no way I wasn’t going to go for the win with the team above anything else.”

Daschbach said he feared a partial tear in the ligaments behind his left knee during a workout Nov. 6, but as time has passed, he recognized the injury is less severe, resulting in a strain that is expected to prevent him from competing Nov. 23 at NXR Southwest in Casa Grande, Ariz.

“I was going a little too fast in my workouts, faster than my coach told me, which is all on me and irresponsible, and I (strained) a little something in the back of my knee,” Daschbach said. “I knew that if I went and ran this, there was a good chance I’d be sacrificing the rest of my season, with NXR and NXN, but the team was 100 percent more important.”

After not missing any workouts since the summer prior to the Nov. 6 injury, Daschbach wasn’t able to train for a week. He was only able to complete a 3-mile run prior to the state final.

“I’ve been pretty depressed these past couple of days because I realized Saturday was going to be my last race. Last year I got pneumonia and missed NXR again, but last year there was always next year. This time there is no next year,” Daschbach said. “As sad and disappointed as I am, NXR and NXN only mean as much as I want them to mean to me, and at the end of the day, they’re not that important. Whether I ran those meets or not my senior year of high school is not going to make any difference come my next four years at college.”

With his victories Sept. 27 at the Desert Twilight Festival – producing the third-fastest all-time high school 5-kilometer performance of 14:14.26 – and Oct. 26 at the Mt. SAC Invitational, along with a runner-up finish Oct. 12 at the ASICS Clovis Invitational, Daschbach had established himself as a legitimate challenger at any postseason national meet, along with Newbury Park CA senior Nico Young, Hersey IL senior Josh Methner, Valor Christian CO senior Cole Sprout, Ashland OR senior E.J. Holland, La Porte TX senior Ryan Schoppe and Aledo TX senior Graydon Morris.

But a potential rematch at NXR Southwest with Sprout, who ran 14:16.01 at Desert Twilight for the No. 4 prep 5-kilometer performance in history, wasn’t as significant to Daschbach as helping Highland end the five-year reign of Desert Vista in the Arizona Division 1 final.

“I’m 100 percent willing to make that sacrifice every time on behalf of the team,” Daschbach said. “They’ve won it every year since I got here and every year I’ve run this meet and every year I’ve wanted to beat them. That’s one of the things I’ve been thinking about all the time since freshman year is getting this team championship, so this is the best way to end senior year cross country season.”

Highland senior Caden Resendez, who finished fifth in 15:51.1, said Daschbach being able to run again with the team for the first time since Oct. 26 made the championship even more special.

“I’m just super relieved that he could do it and super proud of him and all of these guys. We’ve been waiting a long time for this and I’m just so thankful that we finally got it,” Resendez said. “Leo doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. He’s one of the best in the country. I’m just glad we were able to be all together and do this one last time.”

Highland coach Dave Montgomery spoke with Daschbach’s family after the awards ceremony and discussed that the No. 10 all-time performer at Cave Creek would, “probably be shutting it down.”

With the addition of the new individual at-large bids added to NXN for the first time last year, the possibility does exist that Daschbach wouldn’t have to run NXR Southwest and could still be invited to race Dec. 7 in Oregon.

But having an opportunity to compete for a national championship doesn’t carry the same significance to Daschbach as preparing for his final track season and establishing new goals, both in consistency and performance.

“It’s good to prove yourself and it’s good to run 14:14 and come close to Nico Young (at Clovis), because those are both great accomplishments, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean half as much to me as the 1,400 miles I’ve put in this year,” Daschbach said. “By the next season, what you did last season doesn’t really matter as much as the training you did last season. What really means the most is the training I’ve put in over these past six months. I hadn’t missed a single day, a single meal, workout, anything until this injury.

“The big races obviously mean a lot and I’m going to do my best every single time because I train to get better and I race to win. But my kind of mentality is to get better every day and just to be doing my best every day.”