At Olympic marathon trials, Desiree Davila seeks to validate Boston performance

Desiree Davila’s résumé and professional reputation are dominated by one phenomenal race. She understands that. Her stunning, out-of-nowhere performance in last spring’s Boston Marathon, where she set the American record in the event and lost the title in a gripping sprint to the finish, offered a huge boost in name recognition and stature.

It also landed her the No. 1 seed in the women’s Olympic trials marathon Saturday in Houston, where she will face a field filled with household names and more accomplished colleagues. Davila, though, doesn’t view her performance at Boston as a blip; rather, she sees it as hard evidence that the slow, steady climb she had been making since 2008 finally reached the realm of international legitimacy.

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She has been working toward 2012, and now it’s here. The top three men and top three women finishers in Saturday’s marathon will win tickets to the London Games in August. Davila, who has never made an Olympic team and finished 13th at the 2008 Olympic trials, believes she can be one of them.

“It’s definitely a lot different than in 2008,” Davila, 28, said. “Then I was an unknown, hoping to have a really big race that put me on the map. I wanted to sneak on the team. This time, obviously, I’m a lot more fit, more experienced. . . . I understand the event a lot more and feel more prepared.”

Saturday’s challenge will be enormous. Davila, whose Boston time of 2 hours 22 minutes 38 seconds, represents the fastest marathon qualifying time by more than two minutes, will be competing in arguably the strongest U.S. women’s Olympic trials field ever assembled.

Shalane Flanagan, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters and the 2010 runner-up at the New York City Marathon, will be there. Kara Goucher, the 2007 world bronze medal winner in the 10,000, is competing. Deena Kastor, who won the Olympic marathon bronze in 2004, will make a run at what would be her fourth Olympic Games; Magda Lewy-Boulet, a two-time world cross country bronze medalist, is also in the field.

There’s also Davila’s former collegiate teammate Amy Hastings, who outshined Davila at Arizona State University and ran a 2:27.03 marathon in her debut at the distance last year.

Those women “set the bar really high when I [was] taking little steps to get to where I want to be,” Davila said. “People were running incredible times in 10Ks, winning medals. Those are the things you want to shoot for.”

In the men’s race, which begins 15 minutes before the women’s at 9 a.m. EST, top seed Ryan Hall (2:04:58) will face challenges from Meb Keflezighi (2:09:13); Dathan Ritzenhein (2:10:00) and Galen Rupp (1:00:30 half-marathon qualifying time).

As Kastor, Flanagan and Goucher emerged as stars in recent years with breakout performances in major meets, Davila toiled quietly and improved gradually. A native of Chula Vista, Calif., she earned all-America recognition with the Sun Devils but never was considered the top runner on her team. During her senior season in 2004, she placed 23rd in the 5,000 at the NCAA championships.