The second oldest of four children from a running-oriented St. Paul family, Danny Docherty, born in 1989, says, “It’s fun seeing what you can do. You learn over time the specifics of training. I am trying to continue to evolve my career as an athlete and now more as a coach.”
While Danny played recreational sports at a local recreation center as a youth, he primarily concentrated on soccer and running while attending Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. “My formal start in running at Cretin-Derham Hall began as a sophomore. I had success and enjoyed the competition. It struck a chord with me,” says the 5’ 10” athlete who was a dual-sport athlete in the fall as he also competed and later captained the school’s soccer team.
In his first year of the sport, Danny already qualified for the 2006 Minnesota State High School League Track and Field meet, placing 15 th in the 3200-meter run behind 2011 NCAA 3000-meter champion Elliott Heath (Winona). “I was competing against future Olympians [Hassan Mead of Minneapolis and
Ben Blankenship of Stillwater]. It motivated me.”
Qualifying for the state cross country meet as a junior, Danny ran the 5K race 16:19.0 and climbed to 11th with a time of 16:03.7 as a senior in 2007 when the soccer team and cross country teams both won conference championships. In fact, after winning the individual cross country race at the conference meet, he drove to the sectional quarter final soccer game and played through two overtimes!
In track, Danny again qualified for the state meet in both his junior and senior years, placing 4th in the 2008 Class AA 3200-meter run and 5th in the 1600-meter run behind dual-distance champion Rob Finnerty of Burnsville (who also won the cross country title in the fall). “Patience is one of my greatest strengths,” says Danny. “Knowing you’ll be able to pick it up the second half of the race and having the discipline to stick to a plan.” However, he struggled with that goal in the state cross country meet his junior year, which he rates as one of his best performances despite it being a challenging race due to his dual-sport season.
Danny made a big move with 800 meters left to be among the top 25 and earn All-state honors when he hit the steep hill about 200 meters before the finish line at St. Olaf College. “I think I had to walk up a bit of hill and ended up thirtieth. I pushed myself to the limit based on my fitness that day.”
Danny’s parents, Jim, a Nike sales account executive, and Bev, a retired teacher and coach at Mounds Park Academy in St. Paul, were both accomplished runners for the University of Iowa cross country and track teams. Remarkably, Bev qualified for the first six Olympic Trials Marathons with a 68th -place finish in the inaugural run in 1984 and crossed the finish line in 67th place in 2004. Danny’s older sister, Jennie, also competed as a Hawkeye, and later a younger brother, Kevin, Iowa’s Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient in 2018, ran for Minnesota’s southern neighbor, but Danny forged his own path to Loyola University in Chicago.
“I went on three official visits: Minnesota, Iowa, and Loyola. It was a good fit team-wise and I wanted the opportunity to move out of the area. It was a Catholic university and I had relatives in Chicago, so it all pointed well in that direction.” A younger sister, Laura, remained in Minnesota, becoming an All-Big Ten First-Team runner for the Gophers.
At Loyola, Danny had personal bests in the 5,000-meter run of 14:15 and 29:16 in the 10,000- meter run. He cites the 2012 Stanford Invite as one of his most memorable runs. “I led for many laps. It was a culminating race and regional qualifier. I ran the second best ten-thousand meter time in school history. It was an exciting atmosphere, Stanford is the distance mecca for college runners.”
Graduating with degrees in English and psychology in 2013, Danny soon turned to coaching while training for longer distance races and marathons. The 2019 Twin Cities Marathon resulted in a personal best time of 2:15:55. Recalling the race in detail, Danny says, “My build-up [to the race] was great. It was perfect weather. I had a good push, clipping along at 5:05 a mile and pushing the pace. At the half-marathon mark, I was at 66:15. Around fifteen miles, the pack took off and I was running alone from miles fifteen to twenty. Right at the end, I was able to catch a runner [Eliud Ngetich] and finish third. Being on the podium was incredible!” The time qualified Danny for the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon where he finished exactly in the middle, 88th out of 175 runners. The podium finish combined with placing 7th in the USATF 25K Championship led to Danny being named the 2019 USATF Minnesota Runner of the Year.
Now the Director of Operations for baseball and track at the Highland-Groveland Recreation Association, Danny has also been coaching cross country at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis and track at Visitation School in Mendota Heights since 2020. “I appreciate the importance of role models who have paved the way,” says Danny about Minnesota’s strong tradition of elite distance runners. “Running has an incredible community in Minnesota. It’s due to the hard work of many people over the years. People from other states recognize it.”