You would be pleased that he knows all about Prefontaine, one of his early favorites. When I took over the sports editor job in ‘97 at the Highlander, Leo started running that summer in AAU. The summer AAU track program had been sporatic and one junior high coach pushed the issue so much that finally viable program started. Leo was to become a seventh grader and this was his first competitive adventure in running and his first contact with coaching.

My re-education about track became very much a function of this young kid who was a running jesse from the gitgo. That fall in his first cross country race, he simply ran away from everyone. The coaches all laughed at first, saying he couldn’t keep that up. But he did, was barely breathing hard, took a long drink of water when he finished and then went back to the finish line to encourage all those coming in. He was an amazing kid, unpretentious and humble about his good fortune, and became a great mentor to those around him.

The deep story is about him realizing his talent and his parents – who came from Guadalupe Hidalgo, were compesinos – and there was a several year period where the realization of what his talent really meant in all their lives. Leo worked summers, he worked a lot and it was in competition with his time for running, for his energy. But there was no free money in his household. There’s a good story about this period in the current Ahora!Si. (I don’t know if it’s on-line and in English; I have a friend who was a professional Spanish translator.)

Leo won critical awards his first two years in high school. He came in fourth in cross country and they couldn’t even pronounce his name. He was edged at the wire in the mile at the Texas Relays, getting silver when he thought he had the gold as a runner surged from behind. Then he would gold medals in the state 4A track meet, taking the 3200 and 1600. He was on his way. He made great inroads in the AAUs. His coaches knew what he could do – but his parents took a while longer.

His sophomore year he won the gold in the 4A cross country, then both the 3200 and 1600 at both the Texas Relays and the state 4A meet. He won the coveted Outstanding Athlete (HS) at the Relays. The world really change then. (Not that the announcers ever get his name exactly right. After winning three straight CC titles, they became more careful though.)

I have this observation. Leo has seemingly always been at a disadvantage because of his size. The Jim Ryan model predominates. But I don’t think that is true any longer; I think he’s breaking the model.

His best distance is the mile. The long legs do carry a long-race advantage but he can compete well up to 5k and improved the last two years in the 10k (of cc). He can drop down to the 800, but the mile is perfect in several ways.

One, at 5’5” he carries about 125. Most of his competitors lug around 25 to 50 pounds more. This race is a sprint; that’s the way Leo considers it, and now that’s the way it’s run, especially at the international level. You better have overwhelming strength to overcome the weight (Webb). Second, his shorter stride actually puts more spikes on the track in the final curve and straight away, reinforcing his forward momentum. That finish is his trademark, one the Mike Myers crowd grew to love.

I’m hoping we see it tomorrow night. I hope we keep seeing it a while.

I visited with Leonel and his parents Sunday after a reception for him, and we talked about the big O. The scale and enormity of it is just hitting him. One good development for him is that they’re training in Austin right now. There would options to go to California or Great Britain.