UDC’s Wilfred Chemallan to Compete in NCAA Southeast Cross-Country Regionals
Washington, DC: October 25, 2006—Wilfred Chemallan, a member of the University of the District of Columbia Men’s Cross-Country Team, has qualified to compete in the 2006 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Cross-Country Meet on November 4, in Wingate, North Carolina. There are 36 member schools in the southeast region and only the cream of the crop have qualified to compete in this event.
Chemallan, a freshman medical radiography major from Nandi-Hills, Kenya, won five straight cross-country meets this season and broke every single course record at each event. UDC’s Head Cross- Country Coach Marc J. Harrison said “I was highly impressed with this young man from the moment we met. He clicked right away with me. I found him to be very personable and with the support that I received from the University, I was fortunate to be able to get someone of his caliber. Harrison goes on to say, “he works harder than anyone I have ever trained in my 15 years of coaching experience. He gets better each week He has beaten the current CIAA Cross-Country Champion three times this year alone. The Region will be shocked when Wilfred shows-up for the Meet. He will be competing against runners from the toughest region in the country, including perennial winners St. Augustine’s and Mars Hill Colleges.”
The twenty-three year old Chemallan started running
as a teenager in his native Kenya, a country that has produced some
of the world’s greatest marathon runners. He has trained with
some prominent marathon runners including, Timothy Kiptanui, who
came in 4th place in the 2004 Olympics and Hosea Kogo another great
Kenyan marathon winner.
Wilfred played soccer while in high school and
did not start running seriously until a friend suggested that he do
so at the end of his high school years. He recounts that fact that
as a youngster, he was forced to get up early each morning and run
along with all of the village youth. He trained in his hometown of
Nandi-Hills, Kenya, which is in a mountainous area and ran in the
mountains for 45 minutes each day. He participated in local
cross-country events and 1,500 and 3,000 meter events.
He left Kenya to enroll in Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas where he ran track. However, friends in the Washington area persuaded him to relocate and he was recruited by Coach Harrison to enroll in the University of the District of Columbia.
Chemallan’s immediate plans are to enroll in medical school upon graduating from UDC, and also to run marathons. Eventually, he will return to Kenya to practice medicine.