May the Best Man Winn

By Caleb Gatchell, featuring Daniel Winn

Daniel Winn was one of the top 1500/mile runners on the collegiate scene this year, finishing 6th indoors, 9th outdoors, and then 7th at USA’s. One of the unique factors about Winn is that he came into Oregon with relatively modest high school prs, as you’ll see him allude to. I think he is a great example of an athlete who progressed well throughout his career, and has some great insights into how to approach a long term plan. I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed interviewing him.

If you could just start off by telling us a little bit about your high school background. What were your pr's and what did your mileage look like?

I got to 1:59, 3:58 (1500), 4:16 for the full mile, and 8:33 for the 3k on between 40-50 but I didn't really count.

You obviously weren't the typical Oregon recruit, so how did you end up going there and how welcoming were they of you?

I went to their cross country camp (which has since merged into their summer track camp) and met Andy and won the 3 mile time trial at the end of camp. I didn't quite realize how unimpressive I was at the time, and thought Oregon would be an ideal fit... I knew I wasn't their top recruit, but I didn't quite realize how I ranked. Although I certainly was considered the worst guy on the team when I showed up (justifiably) Andy was really willing to work with me and create individualized training for me. It's all the more impressive that he went out of his way to coach me and give me a shot considering he really expecting very little from my career.

What advice would you have for a high school kid in the same shoes as you were who dreams of running for a big time program like Oregon?

I think walking on in the environment I did required me to not expect any special treatment, not feel entitled, in fact, I think I reveled in my lower status. I think a team that doesn't prioritize and emphasize elite performance and athletes discourages growth. Oregon isn't a place where all prs are treated equally. So I was perfectly happy being a lesser priority while fully expecting to develop in the system. My confidence in Andy and the Oregon training group kept me optimistic and confident while I tried to stay outwardly humble. I knew I could be competing more for another school; it took me until my fourth year to make our pac 12 team, but I think that patience paid off because I was more prepared to compete this season having great role models in the likes of Centro, Mac et al, and a coach that really understood racing at the championship level.

You mention your fourth year, this year was a big breakout for you going from 4:04 to 3:57 indoors and then 3:38 outdoors. Walk us through the process leading up to this point and then what made this year special. Did you feel like you were on the verge of something big coming into this year?

I was actually really nervous because I had a stress fracture after regionals last year and wasn't able to run on land until august. I think that nervousness and the urgency of this being my last year actually helped my training as every single run was crucial to my improving fitness. I was in decent cross country shape and thought I'd get all-american, but faded over the last 3k and got 60th. Still that season was really encouraging and everything else wasn't so surprising. I'd never come into indoor track with much fitness, and I was in really good shape just at the outset. My first race was a 4:01 mile that I went out in 1:56 for, so even though it probably didn't look too special, that reaffirmed my fitness was there and the rest of the performances proceeded naturally from there. My goal before cross country started was 3:39 so I did have a general expectation of the success I experienced.

You were on the now infamous 4xmile team at Penn Relays. What were your emotions when Cheserek came to a complete stop not once, but twice? Were you disappointed that he didn't push it and go for sub-16?

I had just tried to run from the front and knew firsthand how difficult it was... the wind was pretty rough on the back stretch. In the back of my mind I wanted that collegiate (or at least school record), but the priority was to win. It seemed to me that everyone was giving Ed full credit for the race strategy. But it was a universally utilized strategy of all the competitors in the race. So that tactic was unanimously condoned. And Ed doesn't lose in the kick often, so while in hindsight people can secondguess, he didn't deserve any of the personal attacks I'm embarrassed to say I read a few of. Those make no sense. He was just doing what everyone else was doing. Each criticism of Ed is just as accurately attributed to the other anchors (none of which I condone). It's tough at the time because you put so much emphasis on that moment as an athlete, but Andy did a good job of maintaining long term focus and keeping us looking forward to the championship portion of the season. Penn was still a very fun and unique experience, I'm glad to have been part of a memorable race, and I hope I can go back some day and get one of those damn watches!

Take me through outdoor NCAA's this year. Were you disappointed with your 9th place finish?

Enormously. That is the one big blemish on what was otherwise I really exciting season. The wind was really bad so I didn't think it would go from the gun, but I thought it would pick up at 600 to go, and I had Soratos on my outside, so I was pretty confident that I could just follow him. He didn't go, and I just didn't compensate with enough urgency and found myself way back when it actually went. Fortunately USAs went how I was hoping NCAAs would have, so I got my 600m kick. Centro was completely out of my league, but I'm happy with that race and it was good to get to find out what I can do in that situation. I was really destroyed walking off the track in ninth because being one out of All-American added insult to injury, but considering I already have the All-American label from indoors and that eighth would have been just about as disappointing as ninth, I'm sort of over it. Sort of. I almost immediately made finishing better at USAs than NCAAs a goal and I got that.

You mention USA's. Take me through those 2 weeks after NCAA's. How big of a confidence booster was your race at Portland and what made the difference and allowed you to have a better race and finish at USA's?

NCAAs didn't really hurt my confidence in terms of how fit I thought I was, but it was nice to go into USAs with a positive mindset. Championship racing is relatively new to me so I think I'm getting better although I still make a lot of mistakes.

Do you have any summer racing plans? What are your post-collegiate plans?

I'm racing tomorrow in the Portland twilight 1500, but other than that I have no clue what I'm going to do with my life.

What are your goals for that race? Also, Cheserek or Andrews?

I want a new pr because I'm sick of my current one. I'm intimidated by both of them but I definitely pick Ed for the win. Either him or Colby.

What is one thing that most people don't know about Daniel Winn that they should?

I am a huge Seinfeld fan and base my whole life on Larry David's model. And I'm really good at ping pong