Peggy was a distance specialist in a time when state and national track leaders didn’t understand that women could run more than a 400. She soon became a world record-holder in three distance events. Neppel set three world records during her running career. In 1976, she ran three miles in 15 minutes 41.69 seconds to win the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championship. Her record-setting race of 15:52.47 in the 5,000 meters came at the Drake Relays in 1977. She won the 10,000 at the AAU Nationals with a time of 33:15.1, in 1977 as well.
Neppel could not show her talents internationally because at the peak of her career, there were no Olympic events in her specialties. The 1,500 race became an Olympic event in 197, but it was too short for her. Neppel, an 880-yard high school champion, began her collegiate career as a nursing student at Iowa. She transferred to Iowa State to run and study animal science. Athletic scholarships had just begun for female athletes, but she didn’t have one.
Peggy still holds five Iowa State records. That her records still exist from the beginning years of women’s track and cross country. She was the first AIAW champion in any sport when she won the national cross-country championship in 1975. The following spring, she won the two and three-mile races at the AIAW outdoor championships and set the first of her three world records.
Shortly after setting the world record in the 10,000, Neppel cut back on her running. She had accomplished everything she could at that point and it was time to do other things. She married Mark Darrah in 1979. When it was announced that a women’s marathon would be added to the 1984 Olympics, Neppel began training again.
But she was bothered by a persistent pain in her abdomen, and went to see a doctor. Doctors found a rapidly growing cancer. Neppel and her husband absorbed themselves in understanding the disease and helping their friends understand it. As friends, they tried to keep others from feeling sadness about her fate.
On Oct. 16, 1981, Peg Neppel Darrah died of complications from pneumonia. She was 28 years old and a few months short of receiving her doctorate in animal science. Just before she died, friends organized a benefit race for her medical expenses.
Approximately 500 people ran. The glory of the Olympics did not became a part of her life, but students of animal science at Iowa State today benefit from her memory and the farm girl who loved to run in the woods.