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Irene Kosgei

Bill Halter

10/7/2009

Irene Kosgei is from Kenya and after high school was given a global awareness scholarship to Dickinson State.

Kosgei ran one season of cross country at DSU and after her sophomore year transferred to University of Mary because they offered a physical therapy major.

Kosgei now runs for the Marauders.

Irene Kosgei traveled 9,000 miles to North Dakota from her home in Kenya. Other than the running, there aren`t many similarities between her way of life in America and what it was like in Africa.

"I grew up in a very humble setting," she says. "My way of life back home is so different from here. I grew up in a small farm where we get to raise cattle, we look after chicken, we went to the fields, we did the plowing."

Long distance running is a way of life in Kenya and after transferring to Mary, Kosgei continued to run but had no intention of competing for the Marauders.

"My girlfriend runs one of the gyms in town, Anytime Fitness and she saw this Kenyan girl on the treadmill and she`s like `This Kenyan keeps coming in and running on the treadmill,` so I`m like, `Neat,`" says associate head cross country coach Dennis Newell. "And she`s like, `No, she`s going pretty good.,"

Newell went and got a first hand look, he agreed. Kosgei ended up joining the cross country team and last year set a school record in the outdoor 5K. But running isn`t the only thing that Kosgei excels at, she has a 3.96 grade point average.

"I really try to understand the stuff that is being taught in class because I`m so busy with running and walking so I try to get so much in class and so when I go back home and try to review it, I don`t take as much time as I would really require," says Kosgei. "So the most important thing is trying to understand it and trying to balance my time."

With her time Kosgei also volunteers with mentally handicapped people.

"The most satisfying thing that I get from that is I get to help people," says Kosgei. "I really get satisfied with helping people, it makes me happy. You put yourself in a situation where, how would it feel if you were in those shoes and I feel like them being helped and getting assistance is something that makes me happy because what would you do if you were in a situation like that."

Kosgei also serves as a tutor for some classmates as well as area high school students.

Kosgei is engaged and her fiancee lives in Bismarck, but he`s originally from Kenya.

The two met after Kosgei transferred to University of Mary.

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