Daniel Reese (2019) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Daniel Reese

Induction:
2019
Class:
1987

Colorado has become known in recent years as “Steeplechase U,” but the roots of such can be traced back to Daniel Reese, who ran cross country and track at CU in lettering four times from 1982-87 … He ran his first steeplechase in the spring of 1983, and it immediately became his main (and signature) event; he never missed a track season from the time he was in 8th grade until the last of his three Olympic Trials in 1996 … He would compete in the steeplechase for 14 straight seasons, including 12 consecutive USA Track & Field championships, and in over 100 steeplechase races, believed to be among the most in the sport … The 1982 Big Eight Conference Newcomer of the Year in cross country, he was a team captain his junior and senior years (1984, 1985), when he earned first-team All-America honors; he finished 15th individually in the ’85 NCAA Championships in Milwaukee, Wis., leading CU to its best national finish at the time (third) … Placed 27th the previous year when CU was 21st … First set a CU record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 1984, and eventually would post the top 10 times in school history in the event by the end of his career … The 1987 Big Eight Conference champion in the steeplechase (8:51.71 time) … He had set a record time of 8:37.10 at the 1987 NCAA Championships in June only to be disqualified (officials said he impeded another runner on a water jump; appeal was denied); that motivated him for USA Track & Field Championships in San Jose later that month where he ran an 8:34.94 in finishing 10th (the fourth collegian) … That is still the fifth-best time ever at Colorado some three decades later, as only two performers have posted faster times that him (Steve Slattery and Billy Nelson) …… After graduating from CU in 1987 with a degree in Psychology, he went on to have an outstanding professional career, beginning with a fourth place effort in the steeplechase at the 1988 USA Track & Field Championships in Tampa, Fla. … He earned an annual top 10 national ranking in the United States for an eight-year span (1988-95) as voted by the Track & Field News, topped by a No. 3 rank in 1993 … He was a three-time qualifier for the Olympic Trials in the steeple (1988, 1992, 1996) … In all, he was a member of 12 U.S. National teams, including two World Cup, two Pan American and one World Cross Country teams … He was the third American to cross the finish line in the 1991 World Cross Country Championships in Antwerp, Belgium (78th overall, U.S. finished 10th), finished fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Pan American Games in Havana in 1991 and was the bronze medalist in the steeple at the 1995 Pan American Games in Argentina … He served as head cross country and track coach at Wheat Ridge High School from 1988-96, where he coached Rebekha McDowell, the first Colorado High School athlete to win four consecutive state cross country titles, and his younger brother, Tom, who was a three-time state champion and future three-time All-American at Colorado … He graduated from Wheat Ridge, where he was the 1982 state champion in the 3,200 and a two-time runner-up in the state cross country meet … He thrives on giving back to the sport and has helped mostly local student-athletes find a destination in college whereby they can continue to pursue their passion of the sport while getting a great education … The middle of three brothers who would compete at CU: Sam, Dan and Tom … He was born October 15, 1963 in Salt Lake City (the family moved to Colorado when he was 6) … He is currently the general manager of CanSource, a Boulder County-based company that works with craft beverage companies around the country in helping to showcase their brand by providing custom packaging solutions.