This Clarke Central track standout craves 'the push and struggle' of difficult seasons

At one point, Clarke Central High School runner JD Daniel was waking up at 4:30 a.m. every morning to swim before school. He planned to keep doing that through a school break, until a coach told him it wasn’t necessary.

During breaks and vacations he makes sure to get his runs in, taking time away from his family and friends.

“He’s always doing extra stuff,” said Lee Patterson, a Gladiators assistant coach and former University of Georgia runner.

Last weekend, Daniel, a sophomore, won the 1,600-meter race at sectionals in four minutes, 22.23 seconds to qualify for the state track and field championships, which begin Thursday.

Daniel is among a group of athletes that have the Gladiators performing at a new level. The boys 4x800 relay team and discus thrower Anthony Lonon Jr. also qualified for state.

“The program has grown over the last four years that I've been here, and the talent is way better than I ever was,” Patterson said.

Last year, Daniel ran 2:01.70 in his high school outdoor 800-meter debut to automatically qualify for the New Balance Nationals. Just over two weeks later, he shaved 3.32 seconds off that time. That lower time broke the Clarke Central High School record and took him to the New Balance Nationals with confidence, where he placed fourth in the race in 1:56.78.

Daniel also runs with the Clarke Central cross country team in the fall, even though he does not consider himself “a cross-country guy.” He uses cross country as conditioning for track.

He likes “the push and the struggle” of the back-to-back seasons, he said.

“It's kind of hard,” he said, “but it's just normal to me now.”

His hard work doesn’t end at the finish line. He already has his eyes set on college — specifically, an Ivy League college.

“I’m really, really devoted to getting into a good college,” he said.

His inspiration is Graham Blanks, whom he met while attending Athens Academy. Now a Harvard junior, Blanks won the individual title at the 2023 NCAA Division I cross country championships. In December, he broke an NCAA record in the 5000.

Daniel hopes to follow a similar path. He formed a new group of friends at Clarke Central after deciding to transition there for high school. His support from his friends, family, and teammates is what motivates him, he said.

Daniel has grown a lot from his freshman year, Clarke Central assistant coach Carter Rathur said. He is more than just a fast runner now. He understands race strategy, and his work ethic remains consistent.

“If we tell him to go home and do calf raises, he might do 200 calf raises, which might not be the idea, but he is always looking for some way to get better,” Rathur said.

Daniel often asks Patterson what his college training was like when he was at Georgia. Patterson is careful with what he tells him, because he knows Daniel will go out and replicate those college-level practices.

Some of that “extra stuff” caught up with Daniel at the end of the 2023 cross country season. About three weeks before cross-country nationals, he started feeling a minor pain in his hip. He thought the pain would go away, but it got worse during the track season.

He started seeing a physical therapist outside of school and going on slower-paced long runs to rebuild weaker muscles and recover. Even with his injury, Daniel ran a personal best in March.

He improved on that time at sectionals. He could go even faster at the state championships this week.

“He puts in the work,” Patterson said of Daniel, “and he gets the results.”

Alanna Jacob is a student in the Sports Media Certificate program at the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute. 

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Clarke Central runner JD Daniel to compete this week at GHSA track meet