SEATTLE - For the second year in a row, an incoming Husky track recruit has broken the elite four-minute mile barrier while still in high school. Arizona native Leo Daschbach joined prestigious company last night at a meet in El Dorado Hills, Calif. appropriately titled the Quarantine Clasico where some of the top prep runners gathered for a chance at regaining a small part of a lost season. Daschbach was the only one to break the barrier, as he closed with an outstanding 56.8-second final lap to finish in 3:59.54.
Daschbach becomes the 11th American high school runner to break four minutes and the first since 2017.
"I didn't realize I was going to run sub-4 until I literally leaned across the line and the clock still said 59," Daschbach said to Milesplit.com. "I still can't believe it. That's amazing."
Last year, Sam Tanner made waves down in his native New Zealand when he ran 3:58.41 in March of 2019 to become the first Husky recruit to ever go sub-four. Now Head Coach Andy Powell boasts a sub-four recruit in both of his first two UW recruiting classes. And there was nearly a third, as earlier this year at a meet in the Dempsey, incoming Husky Cruz Culpepper just barely missed the mark as he finished in 4:00.10 in the same race where Sam Tanner ran 3:59.01 despite both being hindered by a fall in front of them late in the race.
