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= Joseph (Joey) Daniels = Joseph (Joey) Daniels (Born October 12, 1998 - Kitchener Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian Track and Field Athlete specializing in the 110 meter High Hurdles. Starting out in the pure sprints, Daniels has been active in Track and Field since he was 9 years old. Progressing from the U-10 age group through to the Open Men's Category, Daniels amassed 13 Ontario Championships, 4 Ontario Federation of Secondary School Athletics Golds, 5 Ivey League Championships and 6 Canadian National Titles. Along the way, Daniels set 5 Ontario records, 2 Athletics Canada records, 3 Princeton School records and the Ivy League record.

Daniels has competed for Team Canada and the IAAF World Youth Track and Field Championships, the IAAF World Junior Championships and the FISU Games. He was selected to compete for Canada in the Pan Am Junior Games in 2017, but was unable to attend due to injury.

Joey Daniels is a person who seeks and values difficult competition. He considers it a huge privilege to compete for his school, his province and his country at the highest levels in a sport where all performance is measured and compared with complete objectivity.

Daniels is currently the only Canadian male to earn an individual medal at the World level in the Youth or Junior Category since 2010. In 2015, running for Canada at the IAAF World Championships in Cali Columbia, Daniels won the Silver medal.

Early Life
Daniels is the only child of parents Angelica (Nee Marcelino, b. Manila, Philippines) and Ronald (b. Toronto, Canada).

Daniels was scholastically inquisitive very young and attended Montessori School starting at 3 1/2 years old. He continued in Montessori school right up until switching to French Immersion at John Darling Public School in Grade 1. He continued French Immersion through to the end of grade 8, a path that took him to first Driftwood Public School in grade 4 and then to Westheights Public School for grades 6-8.

Physically active and showing remarkable speed and quickness at an early age, Daniels began sports by asking to be taught to ice-skate at 2 years old. By 4 1/2 he was attending hockey school and playing soccer. Baseball and soccer were alternatively added to his athletic schedule at 4-6 years old and by 9 he was playing AAA travel hockey in the winters, baseball, soccer and hockey schools in the summer as well as mountain biking regularly.

At the urging of many coaches and competitors who had commented on his speed in Baseball, Daniels tried out sprinting at the end of grade 4 and became immediately hooked on Track and Field. To free up time for Track and Field, Soccer was dropped from his summer schedule.

While one of the smallest boys in his age group throughout public school and into high school, Grade 7 & 8 saw his speed being put to use on the inter-school touch-football team at West Heights middle school, where his role was to slip through the offensive line and sack the opposing team's quarterbacks. As fate would have it, the school colours of the Westheights Warriors were black and orange - colours he would proudly wear again later on, as a Princeton Tiger.

While all of 93 lbs 5'3" tall and 13 years old in grade 8, Daniels played hockey on a select tournament team of 16/17 year olds, winning the Tournament MVP award in his first tournament with the team.

Daniels was also active in music during his time at Westhheights, winning awards for playing trumpet in the school band. At home, he taught himself guitar and piano.

Unlike his contemporaries who dreamed of becoming professional athletes directly out of high school, even at this early age Daniels knew he wanted to compete in the NCAA and get a great education while advancing his athletic ambitions.

Daniels also displayed a remarkable understanding of the value of competition and sportsmanship as a young child, once proclaiming "It's not the size of the trophy that matters. It's what you did to earn it".

High School
After grade 8 Daniels elected to attend Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, rather than attend Forest Heights Collegiate Institute with the majority of his West Heights classmates. CHCI offered an International Baccalaureate program. Daniels felt this program would be academically challenging and surround him with other serious students.

During his time at CHCI, Daniels was involved in the Jazz band during grade 9 and 10, forgoing this activity when his sports and academic schedule got too heavy in grade 11.

On the athletics side, Daniels made the senior Hockey team in grades 9 and 10 (a track injury sidelined him for most of the grade 11 Hockey season - he elected to focus 100% on Track and Field in grade 12), as well as running Track and Field, where he was an alternate on the Senior 4 x 100 relay team in the same year. He went into his first OFSSA Championship for track and field as the clear favourite to win but had to settle for 3rd after a near-crash caused by a hard hurdle hit. Learning from his mistake, he won his specialty - the 110m Hurdles - at OFSSA all other years.

During high school, Daniels would volunteer his time to mentor younger CHCI track athletes, and would also return to West Heights to mentor their track athletes and speak at events.

Daniels graduated CHCI in 2016 with numerous athletic awards, as well as an A+ academic average.

University
Turning down some very flattering offers from Track and Field powerhouse NCAA Division 1 schools, Daniels instead accepted an offer from Princeton University, once again seeking academic challenge along with athletic excellence. He began his studies there in September of 2016.

Daniels is now a Senior at Princeton University, where he studies Economics with a Certificate (Minor) in Finance. He will graduate in 2020. During the summer of 2018 and 2019, he performed research looking at the causal correlation between Central Bank interest rate policies and changes in the gap between the wealthy and the middle class.

Daniels is a prominent member of the Princeton Tigers Men's track team, where he is coached by Sprints and Hurdles coach Robert S. Abdullah under the direction of Head Coach Fred Samara. In 2019, he became the first sprint hurdler in the history of the Men's track program at Princeton to advance to the NCAA Championships, and was soon afterwards elected a team Co-Captain for the 2019-20 season.

2008
In 2008, Daniels tried track and field for the first time, competing in every track or field event offered at Driftwood Public School. He was immediately hooked and decided to continue his Track season into the summer with the Minor Track Association (MTA) as a member of the KW Track and Field Association (KWTFA). Daniels raced his first MTA meet in Burlington,Ontario winning both the 100m and 200m. He continued undefeated for the entire season, except for the Hershey Ontario finals, where illness caused him to be unable to run his usual speed. He recovered from this illness to win the MTA Ontario Championships for both the 100m and the 200m.

He was honoured with the MTA Award of Excellence for his efforts.

2009
In 2009, Daniels was in the younger year of a 2 year age category. He managed to podium at the MTA Championships, but was not able to get ahead of his older and much taller competitors.

2010
Back at the top of his age group, though still giving up a lot of size to many of his competitors, Daniels won the 100m and 200m at both the MTA Ontario Championships and the Hershey Ontario Finals. The latter earned him the right to represent the district including Ontario at the Hershey Games in Hershey PA - his first ever international competition. At the Hershey games, despite the humiliation of the staging personnel repeatedly attempting to line him up in a younger age group due to his small stature, Daniels managed to run through a minor injury to 3rd place. He also managed to set a new MTA record for the 60 Hurdles during 2010.

Once again, Daniels won the MTA Award of Excellence.

2011
In 2011, Daniels moved from KWTFA to Supreme Athletics and began his coach/athlete relationship with Janusz Tomko. Tomko is an expert in horizontal jumps and hurdles who was trained in Poland prior to immigrating to Canada. Tomko had previously coached Team Canada at international competitions. At Supreme, Daniels joined a small stable of athletes who were a bit older than him. Many would later distinguish themselves with Team Canada and in the NCAA, with Jelissa Westney winning a medal in the 4 x 100 relay for Canada at the Pan Am Games in 2015 and Angela Mercurio being honoured as the NCAA Woman of the Year for 2019. Not competing regularly in MTA meets during this year, Daniels ran a lighter schedule but managed to win the 80m Hurdles at the outdoor Athletics Ontario (AO) Championships and the 60m Hurdles at the indoor Athletics Ontario Championships. He set the AO record in the latter. In his one appearance at an MTA meet, Daniels set a record in the 150m sprint.

In 2011, Daniels won both the MTA Award of Excellence and the AO Athlete of the Year, Bantam Boys Sprints and Hurdles.

2012
2012 was another tough year for Daniels, now at the bottom end of an Athletics Ontario 2 year age bracket. He did set some impressive times at events run by the Royal Canadian Legion (RCL), who run the Canadian Championships at the high school age groups. However, not of age yet to progress to those events, he was not able to advance to Provincial or National events.

The Royal Canadian Legion honoured him with a Certificate of Appreciation to acknowledge his performance at their events.

Struggling to win in straight sprints due to the fact that many of the other boys had grown considerably while he had not, Daniels started training for the hurdles during this season. Both fast and springy, he found immediate success and has preferred the discipline to straight sprints ever since.

2013
2013 was the first year of high school for Daniels. This meant that he was eligible to compete in the AO events, Ontrio Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) events and Legion Provincial and National events. Daniels won the 100m Hurdles at the AO outdoor Championships, the 60m Hurdles at the AO indoor Championships, bronze in the 100m Hurdles at OFSAA (after recovering from a near-crash), and the 100m Hurdles and the 200m Hurdles at the RCL Ontario Championships and the RCL Canadian Championships - his first wins at the National Level.

Once again, he won the AO Athlete of the Year award, this time for Bantam Boys Sprints and Hurdles.

2014
In 2014, Daniels was once again at the bottom of a 2 year age group for AO and RCL events, though in a single year age group for OFSAA. Despite this age disadvantage, Daniels was running strong in 2014 and won the AO 110m Hurdles Outdoor Championship in a new record time, the 100m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles at OFSAA (as well as Bronze at OFSAA in the 100, less than 20 minutes after his 100m Hurdles final), putting down some remarkable performances in the the process. At the OFSAA Western Regional Championships in Windsor Ontario, Daniels ran a 13.12 in the 100 Hurdles with a legal wind. This was well-below the Ontario U-16 Record of 13.49, but did not count towards the record due to OFSAA not being a sanctioned event running under the same rules as AO events (false starts can result in a warning at OFSAA, but result in immediate ejection in AO meets). At the OFSAA Provincial Championships in Mississauga Ontario, Daniels bested the Canadian Record in the 300m Hurdles, though this was soon taken away from him by Alberta's Callum MacNab, a 1997-born competitor. At the RCL National Championships, Daniels injured himself practicing for the 4 x 100 relay, and fell to second behind MacNab in the 110m Hurdles with Daniels running well below his best time. The injury forced him to withdraw from the 300m Hurdles.

CHCI honoured Daniels with the Track and Field MVP award as well as the Ayrton Kipp Award for Outstanding Junior Male Athlete.

2015
2015 started off looking very grim for Daniels. The same nagging Achilles injury that kept him from being able to play for most of the CHCI hockey season also kept him from competing at any meets during the indoor Track and Field Season. In late January, a broken left wrist added to his misery. As things turned out, the broken wrist may have been a blessing in disguise as it kept Daniels from rushing his return to the track and re-injuring the Achilles.

By the time the wrist was healed, the legs were race-ready and 2015 turned out to be an amazing year for outdoor Track and Field. Daniels won OFSAA once more in the 110M Hurdles (OFSAA runs 80m in grade 9, 100 in grade 10 and then 110 for the grade 11/12 age group). He repeated this win at both the Legion Nationals and the Athletics Canada Nationals, setting a Legion National Championships meet record along the way. 2015 also marked the first time that Daniels earned the right to pull on a Team Canada singlet. Travelling to Cali Columbia with Team Canada for the IAAF World Youth Track and Field Championships, Daniels exceeded all expectations, coming home with a World Silver Medal.

To cap off a year that started poorly but just kept getting better, Daniels attended an open meet at the University of Guelph's new indoor facility in December and set a new Canadian Youth record in the 60m Hurdles. His 2015 achievements were recognized by AO with the AO Athlete of the Year award - Youth Boys Sprints and Hurdles. Athletics Canada awarded Daniels the Myrtle C. Cook Award for the Youth Athlete of the Year.

2016
In 2016 Daniels continued in his winning ways, winning the 110m Hurdles at OFSAA (Bronze in the 4 x 100 relay), AO Provinicals and AC Nationals. He set the AO U-19 record in the 110m Hurdles in the process.He was also chosen to represent Canada again at the World Junior Championships, where Daniels was 2nd in his heat before a hurdle hit early in the semi-finals ended his competition.

Once again, Daniels won the CHCI Track and Field MVP award,. The school also created a new award for 4-year achievement in athletics called the Golden Gaels Athletic Excellence Award. Daniels was the first ever recipient of this award.

AO once again awarded him the AO Athlete of the Year award - Junior Boys Sprints and Hurdles.

2017
2017 marked the first year for Daniels as an NCAA athlete, as well as the first year as a hurdler facing 42" hurdles. Though adjusting to this new height, Daniels managed to set a Princeton Record in the 60m Hurdles (he's since lowered it). He also won the Ivy League Championship for the 110m Hurdles for the outdoor season, and qualified for both the Penn Relays and the NCAA Eastern Regional Championships. Back in Canada, and running as a Junior over 39" hurdles, Daniels won the AO Championship, but had to pull of of the Athletics Canada Nationals when an injury cropped up during warm up for the finals. This injury also cost him his spot on Team Canada for the Pan Am Juniors, a trip which departed 1 week after the injury.

His Princeton team won their first of three consecutive Triple Crowns - Ivy Championship in Cross-Country, Indoor Track and Field and Outdoor Track and Field.

Princeton was impressed enough with his Freshman year to award Daniels the Babb Trophy for Freshmen and the Keen Fitzpatrick Medal for Hurdler of the Year. He was also named First Team All-Ivy League.

Academically, Daniels was named a USTFCCCA All-Academic, and award for athletes that make it to the Regional Championships while maintaining a high GPA.

2018
In 2018, Daniels reversed his fortunes at the Ivy League Championships, winning the 60m Hurdles at the indoor Championships in meet record time ( as well as a new Princeton Record, 3rd all time-Ivy League time and a new all-time personal best for the 60 m Hurdles over any height), but dropping to second in the outdoor Championships in the 110m Hurdles. He was also a member of Princeton's 4 x 100m relay team, which had its most successful season ever, setting a new Princeton record, winning the Ivy League Championship and qualifying for the NCAA Eastern Regional Championships for the first time in program history. They also qualified for the Penn Relays.

At the Canadian Nationals, Running in Princeton colours and competing in the open age group for the first time, Daniels managed a bronze, nipping at the heels of Olympians Damian Warner and Jonathan Cabral, running below the Ivy League Record in the process.

Daniels co-won the Ivy League Indoor T&F Most Outstanding Track Performer award, was named First Team All-Ivy League and took home the Princeton Keen Fitzpatrick Medal for Hurdler of the Year once again.

The Princeton Men's Track and Field team won their second of three consecutive (as of 2019) Ivy League Triple Crowns.

Academically, Daniels was named USTFCCCA All-Academic and Academic All Ivy.

2019
2019 marked the first time that Daniels was at his best for both the indoor and outdoor Ivy League Championships. He won both. In the 60m Hurdles, he matched his time from 2018 at the Ivy Championships and set a new meet record at the HYP (Harvard Yale Princeton) Meet. In the 110m Hurdles, Daniels advanced to the NCAA Championships where he finished 12th, matching his Personal Best and Ivy League record time from the Canadian 2018 Nationals and earning Second Team All-American honours. This was the first time in program history that a Princeton Men's Sprint Hurdler made it to the NCAA Championships.

He also set a Collegiate meet record at the Sam Howell Invitational meet. Daniels competed at the Penn Relays again in 2019, making the finals, but wasn`t able to get to the podium. He represented Canada at FISU in Napoli Italy where he was eliminated in the semi-finals. Canadian Nationals did not go well, with Daniels being eliminated in the Semi Final after knocking down a hurdle in an adjacent lane before his competitor had cleared the hurdle.

Daniels won the Princeton Keen Fitzpatrick Medal for Hurdler of the Year for the third straight year, and was once again named first team All-Ivy.

The Princeton Men's Track and Field team won their third of 3 consecutive (as of 2019) Ivy League Triple Crowns.

Academically, once again Daniels was named USTFCCCA All-Academic, Academic All Ivy.

As an added honour, Daniels was named one of three Co-Captains of the Princeton Men`s Track and Field team for 2019-20. This role is awarded by a vote of the members of the team.