After Being Turned Away From Two Universities, Kemboi Found A Home And Rewarded Utah Valley For Giving Her An Opportunity
By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
AUSTIN — As the clock approached midnight, and with most of the people cleared out of Mike A. Myers stadium, there was Everlyn Kemboi slowly jogging on the track. She cradled a box containing her NCAA championship award in one hand, and held a cellphone to her ear with the other.
Texas moved closer to the women’s team championship at the NCAA Division 1 Championships on its home track. That party is on hold until Saturday.
Britton Wilson of Arkansas rehearsed the fantastic double she’s planning in the 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles.
But Kemboi deserved an extended moment in the lights Thursday and her story of patience, answered prayers and perseverance was as inspirational as anything that happened on the second day of the national championship meet.
“I’ve been patient the whole time,” Kemboi said, referring not only to the race but to her life.
Kemboi’s victory in Thursday night’s 10,000 meters, in 32 minutes, 39.08 seconds, broke Weini Kelati’s facility record.
She trusted her own ability to finish and closed in 68 seconds to get away from Utah’s Emily Venters, who was second, and Alabama’s defending champion, Mercy Chelangat, who was third.
Kemboi, who grew up running back and forth to school, came from Kenya to the United States intending to run at the University of Texas-El Paso, but the school was unable to offer her a scholarship when she arrived. She pivoted, and enrolled at El Paso Community College instead, where she won a national junior college cross country championship in the fall of 2018 and finished second in 2019.
Kemboi got an offer from Arizona and took it, leaving West Texas behind.
The COVID-19 pandemic erased the start of her Division 1 career in 2020 and in 2021 she still had serious concerns about competing. Her father got ill with COVID and she didn’t want to get it. She told her coaches at Arizona she wasn’t comfortable racing.
“They said if you don’t want to do cross country, we will remove you from the team, and they removed me from the team,” she said.
Arizona took away her scholarship.
In the summer of 2021, Kemboi’s clock was ticking. Without a college, and without a scholarship, she had a month to figure out her next move or risk being sent back to Kenya.
She reached out to former Utah Valley University assistant coach Chris Shane, and the…
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