Track & Field News Runners Of The Month
Diego & Daniel Mercado
by Steve Bailey
 The Track & Field News High School Runner Of The Month honor for October—the first in a monthly series--is shared by West Covina High seniors Danny and Diego Mercado. The California twins produced two meet-record-setting performances within the same week.
On Saturday, October 22 at the prestigious Mt. SAC Invite (on the site that will host the Foot Locker West Regionals, a hilly, tradition-deep course that many a star has raced on over the years), Diego Mercado took advantage of the clean course and calm weather conditions to wipe away a mark that was put down by California State champions Ryan Hall (’00) and Mohamed Trafeh (’03). His time of 14:24 bested theirs by 4 seconds.
The following Friday, October 28, another Trafeh record was removed. At the off-season Cougar track 2-mile at Azusa Pacific University, Danny Mercado lowered the meet record by 6 seconds with a time of 9:04 (Diego was a second back in 9:05). Last spring Diego and Danny placed 3rd and 7th, respectively, in the 5000m at the USATF Junior Championships. Their times of 14:25.89 and 14:43.87 were the Nos. 1 and 5 HS times in the nation for ’05.
T&FN: What was your game plan for the Mt. SAC race?
Diego: Our plan was to try to wear A.J. Acosta [El Camino HS, the top returnee from last year’s Foot Locker XC Championships who had out-kicked Diego at The Stanford Invite earlier in the season] because we‘ve always known he has had a pretty blistering kick. We wanted to take it out of him early so he wouldn’t come at us downhill and on the straightaways. That was basically the plan. The way we did it was we pushed the back part, which is behind Poop-out and Reservoir Hill. After we pushed that out we warmed down so he had to work a little bit to keep contact. We try to do that at any race at Mt. SAC; it doesn’t matter who our competition is. We try to cancel out kicks and I think it worked out pretty well.
T&FN: Danny, you made a move and took over early on.
Danny: I felt the pace slowed down a bit going up Switchback Hill (that’s right after the mile), so I just went around him. I started surging up the hill and Diego went with me. When one of us is leading, the other one in back can feel when the leader is slowing down, so automatically we’ll switch leads just to keep it rolling. We can feed off of each other. If one of us is feeling good then we’ll attack it so we can allow the other to recover a little. That’s the way I like to think about it
T&FN: At Mt. SAC, A.J. Acosta also shared in some of the work.
Diego: Yeah definitely. We agreed that we would all help out in the first mile like my brother and I do. He agreed to take a piece of the chores during the mile. We hit a really good time thanks to him. That helped us quite a bit during the rest of the race because we conserved energy for the later stages.
T&FN: Did you make that plan with A.J. the day of the race or had you spoken earlier?
Diego: We had spoken earlier at a press conference for the meet about how we were going to do it. Everybody in there wanted that record to go down. We--A.J., my brother and I—knew that the course conditions were good and it was going to be one of us that would get it. We decided that we might as well help each other in the process and get some PRs, which we all did.
Danny: We held back a little in the press conference, but A.J. said what he wanted to run. He went after it and he got a PR. We have a great amount of respect for that.
Diego: He’s one of the few people that when he says he’ll help you out and then it comes down to working toward something, you can rely on. And he’s an incredible runner. He’s very good all around as well as at the longer distances. I believe he has a great chance of winning the Foot Locker Championships as well as the State championship in the mile and even the 2-mile. I don’t doubt him for a second. Anything he can handle, that kid.
T&FN: At the Cougar 2-Miler, which is on the track, it was just the two of you right off.
Danny: Yeah, we didn’t know what time we wanted to hit; we just said we’ll go by our feel and we’ll alternate the laps. I took the first lap and we just started switching off from there.
And then with three laps to go I just started surging and then I kind of felt Diego let me have it.
It was a PR for me, but it wasn’t a PR for Diego--68-69-69-69. We came through the mile mark in 4:35-4:36 and then we hit a 67 on the 6th lap, 67 again and then a 63. I knew we ran a 4:28 on the last mile.
T&FN: Danny, this was your new 2-mile best. What did you run last year?
Danny: Yeah, 9:04. We have almost the exact same times. It’s really weird. I never ran the Cougar Meet before, but last spring it was 9:15.
T&FN: Let’s run down some PRs, starting with the 400.
Diego: Okay, for the 400 I ran a 55 one time and that was in a 3000. I went out too hard--way too hard. That was a very bad idea.
Danny: My 400 is 56. I ran that in the mile.
T&FN: Your coach has never made you run the mile relay?
Diego: No, we’re slow.
Danny: We probably run two events a meet and that’s it.
T&FN: So now your 800 and 1600 times?
Diego: In the 800 I ran a 2:02. That’s not fast, but I never really run the 800. For the 1600 I’ve run 4:14.
Danny: My 800 is 2:01 and my 1600 is 4:14.
T&FN: 4:14 what?
Danny: Point 6 something or 7. Mine’s lower, I know that. I know we always hassle each other about who has the faster mile.
Diego: It’s Danny. Just for the record, it’s Danny. [Danny 4:14.71, CIF SS Masters].
 T&FN: When you take down a record that’s been held by a Ryan Hall or a Mohamed, what does that do for your psyche?
Danny: You look up to them and I used to hold them in such awe. I felt like I couldn’t touch these guys because they were in a different league. Then when you take these records, it does have a big impact because it boosts up our confidence a lot and helps us train harder and go after different types of records.
It might be unrealistic to go after Galen Rupp’s 5000 meter Junior record, but if we keep training the way we’re training, then I don’t see it as way out of reach. When you’ve looked up to these people and you break their record, you say, I’m one of the guys now, I’m one of the best. That’s always a good feeling to have. We can’t let it get to our heads though.
T&FN: Of course there’s been the Pre comparison with Galen Rupp, but also with you, Diego. How did that start?
Diego: I started running at the front before I knew about him. My coach would tell me, “Oh, you’re like Pre because you have the long hair and the mustache and you run up front.” I didn’t know who Pre was. Then we watched a movie about him and I was just like, “wow!” He’s a legend. He ran it with guts.
Running from the front is different because not a lot of people do that nowadays, but I know that I run my best—we both know that when we run our best we run from the front. We don’t sit or anything like that. It feels really uncomfortable. I feel that I get more tired [running from the back]. I’m not out there to run somebody else’s race. I’m out there to run my own. When I’m in the back or something, all I’m worried about is not falling and I think that wastes a lot more energy.
T&FN: Which Pre movie have you seen?
Diego: We’ve seen both of them and then there’s another one that’s a documentary.
Danny: We also have this DVD that somebody made about Lasse Viren winning the [Olympic] 5000 and 10,000 that shows how Pre took it out for the last mile in the 5k and started hammering himself into the ground and that’s pretty much what we like.
If we want to be in this for the Olympics, we know that if you try and sit on a Kenyan or an Ethiopian it’s not really going to work. We’re trying to get used to their pace—the way they like to do it. If you want to beat them you might as well be prepared to take a beating from them. They deliver really blistering paces. You can’t sit on an Ethiopian and expect to win because they’ll run the first mile near 4 minutes. They like to try and run a 4:20 for three consecutive miles. They always like to run really hard.
You think about Prefontaine and why he ran, he was out there to see who was tougher than he was. If Diego wants to run a PR, he’ll just go out and do it. It doesn’t matter who else is in the race because you can’t worry about everybody else. What it really comes down to is your PR. It doesn’t really come down to a victory. We just want to run fast. We want to run faster than anyone else has ever run before. That’s pretty much our goal and if we have to go out and do it ourselves, well go out and do it. We really don’t mind taking up the yoke for other people. If it helps other people run faster, why not?
T&FN: Who have been some of your other inspirations?
Danny: I really like Rudy Chapa. When I look at him run and I see the kind of pain that he put himself through, it’s really admirable. You look at somebody who’s willing to put himself through that much torture and it just says a lot about that person. If you’re going to beat me, you just better be ready to die, pretty much.
I also like Jim Ryun. Jim Ryun was the same way. He always raced to be the best. If he wanted it that bad, he would do it. I like all the athletes that pound themselves into the ground.
T&FN: Who do watch that’s competing today?
Danny: I like Kenenisa Bekele. Sometimes he’ll take it easy, but when he’s on he’s on. When he wants something, he’ll really go after it. He doesn’t care who’s in the race; he just goes out for himself. That’s the way we do it. We try and take after the people that say, “I want to run this time so that’s what I’m going to do.” We can be in the Olympics and say I’m going to try to hit my splits; I’m not trying to hit anyone else’s splits. We should try and run for ourselves and that’s the way I enjoy it. If I didn’t enjoy this I wouldn’t be doing it.
T&FN: Last track season as juniors in high school, you were racing against some of the top frosh collegians [at the Junior meet--Diego bronzed and Danny placed 7th] How did you feel approaching the race?
Diego: Going into that race I really wanted a berth on the [U.S. Pan-Am Juniors] team. I knew we both had a really good chance of getting on the team. Our training was going good and we were doing things that we never thought we could do as far as track & field. So going into the race we were pretty confident of our abilities. What I wanted to do was to hammer from the beginning no matter what. I didn’t care what the pace was going to be and neither did Danny.
At the beginning of the race I moved ahead. I got to the front and I put a few meters on the pack--on everybody else--and my brother was in that mix. I was on pace. I was at 68 quarters, so I knew I was on pace. I wasn’t about to back down although I was kind of in doubt of why I was in the front. I was thinking, “Whoa, man, I shouldn’t be here,” but once I got past the first lap I knew I was in the right spot. So then everybody started moving up including my brother and it just became a race. Everyone was working. Everyone was doing something. It was just a great race.
T&FN: Paul Hefferon [Kansas] and Daniel Nunn [Georgetown] were the eventual 1-2 finishers?
Diego: Yeah, on the last two laps, Daniel Nunn and Paul had pulled away.
T&FN: Of course you still more Juniors [under-20] competition ahead of you.
Diego: The PR that I was going for was 14:20, but 5 seconds off wasn’t really that bad and Danny had PRed as well so we both had a good day.
T&FN: Danny, what were you trying to get there?
Danny: The reason I raced was that my training told me I was in good shape, but then when I got to the line, doubt started to linger because of the injury. That confidence went away, but I did PR by a second, which wasn’t bad. At least I didn’t go away from that race without anything, but this [coming] year, I have way higher expectations now. My training is going fine. That race, I at least wanted to run 14:30. It didn’t work out, but I did PR. And like you said, I have two more years [at the Junior level] and this year it’s going to be pretty interesting to see what we can do in the 5000.
T&FN: What happened to your knee last year?
Danny: Last year I ran the Woodbridge [Cross Country] Invitational for the first time. I didn’t know that we were actually supposed to go out to the front in order to get away from the high traffic area. I ended up in around 8th or 12th place when we were going around a baseball diamond and there were these rods sticking out with a rope on them to tell you where to go. I was behind somebody and he was pretty big, so I couldn’t see what was in front of me. When we got to the rod, he got out of the way, but I didn’t. I had to jump over the rod and I hit my knee on it and I started stumbling until I fell. I stood up and had to walk off. I was surprised I could walk because it hurt really badly.
T&FN: That kept you out for how long?
Danny: Pretty much most of the season. I wasn’t training that much afterwards because of the injury and I was coming into races with almost no training whatsoever, so my cross-country season was pretty much over. My track season went all right. The injury was still kind of nagging me. I made it to the state championships, but that was pretty much my goal. After I knew I wasn’t going to be able to race in the two-mile, I just thought I should go for a PR in the mile. So in the mile I ran a big PR. It was 4:21 before that. I was just happy with that.
This year is going to be really different though. I’m going to be looking to try and win state championships in at least the two-mile and maybe I’ll try to win in the 5000 in the USATF Junior Nationals.
T&FN: Will you be racing in the Junior Nationals in Cross Country this winter?
Diego: Yeah, we’re going to try for that.
Danny: I’m not going to do that.
Diego: Yes you are.
Danny: I don’t want to do it.
T&FN: We’re on the phone here, so who’s saying I’m going to try for it and who’s saying we’re not going to do it?
Diego: Danny doesn’t want to do it, but we’re going to do it.
Danny: It’s in New York. I don’t want to go to New York. It’s cold over there.
Diego: It doesn’t matter. He’s going to do it.
Danny: Now you speak for me?
T&FN: What other races are you considering?
Diego: We’re going to do all the big meets. Hopefully it will be in the budget. Most of our big races aren’t in the school budget. If we can fundraise enough, then maybe we’ll be able to get to all the big meets like Nike Outdoor and all that stuff.
T&FN: Danny, you seem to have come on tremendously this season?
Danny: Diego can really push himself. When he wants a PR, he’ll make the race to where he can get his PR. If that means he has to take the lead and start hammering, then he’ll do it and I just try to tag along. If I get a chance I’ll try to do some of the work so he doesn’t have to do it all. I have recovered from the knee injury I had last year. It’s actually looking pretty good. I PRed by about 46 seconds at Mt. SAC. Then I came and ran a 9:04. I was really stoked about that. It was something I really didn’t expect. But I appreciate having Diego around because we always push each other to the limits. We don’t like to give each other an inch.
At this point he’s in way better shape than I am. He really has no limits to the pain he can deliver to himself. I think I am coming on now. I’m getting in really good shape. I think I’ll be ready for State championships and Foot Locker West and Foot Locker. Hopefully, I’ll be in good enough shape to actually make the team. Most of those things I pretty much owe to Diego.
 Diego: When we started running as freshmen, we almost didn’t make top 7. I remember at the team time trial Danny made top 7 and I was first man on JV. The first race they ran the varsity and JV together and at that race my brother and I placed higher than everyone on our team except for the No. 1 guy. That’s when I started thinking, “I’m getting kind of good.”
The first time running Mt. SAC Danny ran 16:14 and I ran 16-flat. We were voted top freshmen in the state or something like that—we were on that list--and after that we knew that running was for us. After that it just got continually better.
My sophomore year I ran 16:11, by the end of the year I ran 15:10. After that I figured whatever we usually run on the time trial, I need to beat that time by a minute or else I’m not running fast enough. The same goes for Danny. Constantly we are trying to go after a certain kind of goal and I think that is the trouble with distance running these days in America. Not a lot of people tell themselves,”I’ve got to get this time this year” and [then] they have to do it, instead of saying, "Maybe I can get this time this year." No, we’ve got to say, "We've got to do this this year--this is our year so we’ve got to turn it up."
And that’s the good thing about this year’s running, including A.J. Acosta, my brother and I, and the other top guys. And we’re thinking the same thing: We’re working towards something and this is the way it’s going to be and we’re going to go through hell to do it. It doesn’t matter. If people get clear definable goals then they’re going to get PRs. You can make up a time and fall a little short, but it doesn’t mean you’re not going to PR.
T&FN: Your coach at West Covina is Frank Gonzales?
Danny: Yeah, He’s great. We completely trust him.
T&FN: How does he work with you? Is there a lot of athlete input?
Diego: My coach has an idea for what we’re going to do a certain day and when that day comes he’ll ask us how we feel. If we’re not feeling good he’ll lighten the load If we’re doing intervals we’ll try to hit the appropriate time but we won’t do as many intervals; but if we’re scheduled to do a 12-miler of hills we’ll do less. My coach doesn’t believe in trying to squeeze the juice out of what’s not there.
Danny: But it’s usually a surprise because we never know what we’re going to do. As far as intervals go he never tells us how many we’re doing or what we doing. Right when we get to the line, we’re ready to go and he’ll just say 200 meters, ready-set-go and then we just do it. He’ll never tell us how many more we have or how much we’re doing. He never tells us that just to keep us guessing, so we’ll be running hard or trying to keep pace on every single one.
T&FN: What’s the least you’ve expected and been surprised by?
Diego: Well, I remember one time we were doing 200’s and I figured we would stop around 16 or 18 and we actually went to 32
T&FN: How fast?
Diego: 30 seconds or better.
T&FN: And what recovery?
Diego: We were just jogging across the infield.
T&FN: What’s the training like?
Diego: We’re doing a lot of hill work right now because we’re tapering down a little bit. Not so much tapering from like 10 miles a day to 3 miles a day, because that’s what we did our freshman year and we bombed CIF. It didn’t work out. So we figured we’re going to keep the momentum going and keep the training the same. Why would we change it? So, we’re tapering down a little bit. We’re probably going from 10 miles a day to maybe seven or eight miles and the track speedwork is not as long. It’s shorter, faster interval. That’s the route we’re taking for these next few weeks.
T&FN: Morning runs, weekend runs?
Diego: The thing we mainly do nowadays that we never really did before is Sunday runs--long Sunday runs. We do need the recovery, but that’s the new thing we’re trying out and I think it’s working out really well. We just started this year. A friend of ours—Aaron-–invited us to run Sundays with him. We just go out for a long 10- or 11-mile run. I think those are helping out big time because we never did that before. Never went on morning runs.
T&FN: Do you do runs like that any other time of the year?
Diego: During the summer we did a 12-mile run every other day.
T&FN: What have your parents thought about all of this running stuff?
Diego: Well, they didn’t really know what we could do. Even to this day they understand most of it, but some things they don’t like. They try to be not super-excited about it because they want us to stay humbled. Our parents both enforce the rule that you can’t mouth off, you just have to forget about a race after it’s over and done with. They’re always that way about races and I love that. We’re really grateful to have them.
T&FN: Of course it’s early signing season. Have you made any decisions about where you want to go to college?
Danny: We still have a pretty wide range of schools right now. We’re looking at Oregon, Cal-Berkeley, Arizona State, Portland, Cal Poly-San Louis Obispo, Northern Arizona, and UCLA.
We’re trying to stay close to home. The visits are very important to us. We’re going to use them all.
T&FN: What are your interests academically?
Diego: My brother has a 3.5 GPA. As far as careers, I don’t know yet but I want to take sports marketing in college.
Danny: I plan on getting into psychology. Running is only going to last us 10 or 15 years--at the most 20. We need the education to fall back on. After we retire we’re going to need a job. We’re doing fine with the running; what’s really important right now is just keeping the grades up.
T&FN: Are you planning to attend college together?
Diego and Danny: Yeah definitely.
T&FN: Are you identical twins?
Danny: I dunno; people say we are but some people say we aren’t. I guess just say that we are.
###
|
