Fourth-grader sprints to national track record

St. Thomas the Apostle student Logan Daley sets sights on this summer’s Junior Olympics

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Logan Daley, a fourth-grader at St. Thomas the Apostle in West Hempstead, has been running for just four years, but on March 13 she broke the national indoor record in the 55-meter dash for girls ages 9 and 10 at the Hershey National Youth Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island.

Logan, who said she felt confident and “a little nervous, but not much” going into the race, finished in 7.91 seconds, beating the previous record of 7.97. She had never competed in the Hershey Nationals before breaking the record. “Eighty kids qualified for that race, and she beat them all,” said John Padula of USA Track & Field, the sport’s governing body. More than 26,000 athletes from across the country took part in qualifying meets.

Now Logan is looking forward to her next big event: attempting to qualify for the Junior Olympics, scheduled for Houston in August.

According to Logan, one of the major sources of her inspiration is her father, Hugh Daley, a former athlete who coaches at the Explosion Track Club in Baldwin. Soon after Logan began running, her parents, and others, realized that she had a gift. “She was so explosive on the track and never lost a race, even though she would be racing children who were a lot bigger than her,” said her mother, Shonda. “We felt she had something special.”

Logan joined her father’s team at Explosion, and began practicing regularly. Father and daughter also made it a habit to work out together in their home in Hempstead.

Now the focus of their workouts will be the track at Freeport High School, where outdoor practice will begin next week. “Yesterday we just finished up with the indoor practice,” her mother said last week. “Now we’re going outside.” The Junior Olympics is an outdoor event.

St. Thomas the Apostle Principal Valerie Gigante said that before Logan ran in the Hershey Nationals, she had mentioned to her that she was competing in a race, but Gigante didn’t understand its importance until she saw Logan practicing in the schoolyard. “She went like the wind, whoosh!” Gigante said.

Last week, Logan and her sister, Morgan, 6, were on their spring break, yet despite her huge win on the track, Logan was thinking about the schoolwork that was waiting for her. “I have three packets that I have to do, but I already finished one,” she said. “When I retire from track, I want to be a doctor, a pediatrician.”