Winning the women’s 5,000 meters at the Kansas Relays isn’t as prestigious as, say, winning the Boston Marathon.
But, hey, a Relays victory is sweet, and besides, Daniela Daggy plans to race at Boston someday.
Daggy, a KU senior, won the 5,000 in 17:22.31 Thursday at Memorial Stadium. Then she revealed her plans.
“I’m going to train for the Boston Marathon after I graduate,” said Daggy. “The longest I’ve ever ever run is 15 miles.”
Actually, Daggy’s marathon training doesn’t figure to be much different from what she’s doing now.
“I’m really not going to run that many miles,” she said. “Quality rather than quantity is what I’ll try to do.”
The women’s 5,000 and 10,000 were both success stories for KU athletes Thursday. Daggy and senior Ashley Ace made it a 1-3 finish in the 5,000. Ace snared third in 18:01.03.
Later, KU freshman Colleen McClimon placed second in the 10,000 in 35:56.48.
Haskell University freshman Anjanette Proctor finished sixth in the women’s 5,000 in 18:46.71, and she said it was a good time for her best showing of the year.
“It’s the biggest meet I’ve run in this year,” Proctor said.
Kirsten O’Hara, who completed her eligibility at California in 1989, was the women’s 10,000 winner in 35:44.18. O’Hara, a native of Los Angeles, now lives in Manhattan.
Bobby Palmer, a KU senior, contributed a third-place finish in the men’s 5,000. Palmer finished in 14:46.84. Emporia State’s Jurmain Mitchell won the event in 14:27.40.
Palmer and teammate Ladd McClain have undertaken a rigorous training schedule of running 100 miles a week.
“Those are hilly miles, too,” Palmer said. “That’s what accounts for most of my strength. Whenever there’s a hill, you can’t wimp out. We try to push every hill as much as we can.”
That may be why Palmer had enough energy for a late burst that put him ahead of fourth-place Conor Holt of Oklahoma. Holt finished in 14:46.99, fifteen-hundreths of a second behind Palmer.
“At the end, I know I’ll have something left,” Palmer said.
In other events at the Relays on Thursday, Barton County’s Richard Kosgei won the men’s 10,000 in 30:10.3, and Brian Burkhart won the hammer throw at 202-9.
