Former Kent-Meridian star picks up speed for Huskies on the oval

Derrick Daigre is learning to work — or run — his way back up to the top of the podium.

The 2011 Kent-Meridian graduate and University of Washington freshman, finished his first collegiate track meet with a ninth-place finish in the 800 meters during the preliminaries at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis with a time of one minute, 52.32 seconds.

However, he missed the qualifying time by a razor-thin margin of .05 second. After placing second at last year’s championships and running a personal-best 1:50.05, Daigre said it was hard for him after realizing how close he had been.

“I was disappointed, especially since we really had a long traveling day,” he said. “It took us two days to get there because of layovers, but we all knew we had a job to get done. When we made it to the USA last year, I placed top two in the finals, (so) this time to get that far and then come up a little short, it sucks.

“You know you can do it, you’ve been there before,” he said. “It was 90 degrees when we were running. You don’t think about that when you’re running. You just want to run.”

During his high school track career, Daigre ran up a tally of medals, including the 4A state title in the 800 meters with a time of 1:52.57 and second in the 400 meters in 2009 as a sophomore at 49.04. He also ran on the cross country team, placing 21st at the 2010 state championship.

Although he said ninth place wasn’t the best note to end the season on, he said often an athlete’s first year training on a collegiate level is learning how to adapt to the collegiate style and method of training, as well as the environment.

“I came (to college) with the approach that I really want to be fast,” he said. “It’ll come, it’ll come, just do what you normally do. But things change. … In high school, everything is easy because you just learn how to be yourself and you get that reward,” he said. “But in college you have to work so much harder and the payback isn’t as grand because you don”t get those stats, those wins.

“But I think now that, now to win and succeed, it means that much more, because you barely get it,” he said. “You kind of take those things for granted. But in college you’ve got to do everything.”

At this level, Daigre added, the expectations are different.

“The coaches weren’t harder. They make you kind of run as a man,” he said. “You’ve got to do things on your own. Coaches aren’t here to babysit you. They’re only there when you’ve got a workout or it’s time to go (race). But you’re on your own a lot. You do things for yourself. Everything is just more professional. It’s all expected out of you to do on your own.”

While he can’t compete at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships next year, which has a cut off age of 19, Daigre said he plans to compete at other similar events and hopefully bring his times back down.

“Next year I’m going to have more focus … and be more prepared,” he said. “The first year your coach is trying to figure out what type you are. Are you speed? Are you strength? The first year we’re really trying to know each other. What happens is you don’t run too fast, but you’re training in a different way so it’s more positive. I did more volume than I’m used to.

“The next year, since my coach knows the runner I am, he’ll adjust things and add more speed and less strength, but still try to maintain what we did last year. That’s what I’m happy about, moving up the ranks.”

Competing with the cream of the crop runners also is a new experience Daigre said he encountered.

“You go from the being that number one guy, winning races here and there all the time, and now you’re in college and back at the bottom again,” he said. “You’re a little shy. I like it a lot because it motivates you more, because you’re racing against guys who you looked up to in high school.”

One instance in particular, he said, was when he participated in the Twilight Races in Eugene, Ore., and was placed in a heat with post-collegiate runners.

“Oh, man, I look up to these guys,” he said. “I’m not competitive to them, but I’m trying. Of course, they killed me, but it was tons of fun. It’s motivating. It was really entertaining. It was a lot of fun but I’m not ready for that (yet).”