Texas Tech University Athletics
Faces In The Crowd: Leigh Daniels
June 27, 2007 | Track and Field
June 27, 2007
By Wes Skipwith, Texas Tech Athletic Media Relations
By winning two national titles, Leigh Daniel set the standard for long distance running at Texas Tech. Today, she still pushes herself in competition while motivating her own runners at Ashland University.
Daniel ran cross country and track for the Red Raiders from 1998-2001. While at Tech she set school records in the outdoor 5000m and 10000m and the indoor 3000m and 5000m. Daniel won seven Big 12 Championships and two national championships (1999 indoor 5000m and 1999 outdoor 10000m) while being named All-American eight times. In 2006, she was named to the Big 12 10th Anniversary Team.
Daniel said that her most memorable moment she had while competing for Tech was when she won her first national championship, because that was when she saw all of her hard work pay off.
"Everything just started to come together from all the training that I was putting in and my times were starting to come down," Daniel said. "When I qualified, I didn't think I was going to win. I just had a great race and ended up surprising myself and maybe some other competitors that had never heard of me before. That was definitely a special moment."
 Leigh Daniel was a two-time National Champion while at Texas Tech  | |
After college, Daniel continued running competitively, joining Team USA California. She returned to Lubbock after suffering an injury and spent a year in recovery. Then she moved to Michigan to join the Rochester Hills-based Hansons-Brooks Distance Project Team with whom she competed with for two years. While in Michigan, a friend told Daniel about a job opening at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
"I knew that I was ready to make the move into coaching," Daniel said. "So it was just one of those `right place at the right time' kind of things." Daniel has been the head women's cross country coach for two years and last year she lead the team to a fifth-place finish in the 13 team Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Daniel said she enjoys coaching because it gives her chance to make a difference in young athlete's lives like her coaches did for her.
"All my coaches that I've had have played a huge role in shaping me as a person and have been just good role models," Daniel said. "I saw how much influence they have had on people's lives. So I thought that would be a cool role to play. And I hoped that some day that could be me. Also I am a really competitive person so I didn't think I could ever be away from the running scene."
Daniel also has a romantic connection at Ashland. Her boyfriend, Nick Cordes, is the head coach for the men's cross country team. Cordes graduated from Ashland where he competed on the school's track and field team. Daniel said she enjoys having her boyfriend working alongside her and training with her.
"You definitely have to separate the relationship from the working world," she said. "But it is nice to have that support there. We both come from different schools of thought when it comes to coaching, so we use ideas from each other to make our teams better. We run together everyday and do a lot of our training together so it's nice to have him there and keep me motivated."
Besides coaching, Daniel still runs competitively and is currently training for the United States Championship 20K in September. After that she is looking forward to the Olympic Trials marathon next April.
Daniels said when she reflects on her career at Tech, she is very proud to have been part of building its track and field program to what it is today. The recent success of current Tech distance runner and three-time national champion Sally Kipyego has really excited Daniels, even though Kipyego has broken most of her records.
"Right now Tech track is doing amazing and it's just so exciting to see how great Sally is performing. I don't think I have any records left now, thanks a lot Sally," Daniel said jokingly. "It seems like every time I look up I see another one of my records broken by her. But I am proud for her and she just seems like a really sweet young lady and I would love to meet her. I think it's cool how she is continuing on that tradition and hopefully many years to come it will continue."
Players Mentioned
