Lions’ Jepngetich, call her Amazing Grace

With a point and a click, one simple e-mail was delivered that forever changed the futures of Grace Jepngetich and the Vanguard University women’s cross country team.

The e-mail was from David Rotich, a Kenyan runner, who, at the time, was competing for Spring Harbor University in Michigan. In the message, Rotich communicated with Bryan Wilkins, the 19-year coach of the Vanguard men’s and women’s cross country teams, and detailed times Jepngetich had run in Kenya.

“He told me that he knew a couple really good Kenyan women runners,” said Wilkins recalling the e-mail, “And, basically wanted to know if we’d be interested in taking a look at them.”

What Rotich forgot to mention was that one of the runners, Grace Jepngetich, was his girlfriend who couldn’t afford to go to school in Kenya and that she actually wasn’t a runner at all. The fact of the matter was that Jepngetich was 20 years old and had never been a member of a high school or collegiate cross country team.

In fact, Jepngetich had never competed in a race until her boyfriend convinced her to.

“I was still in high school when he left Kenya (to attend college and run in the U.S.),” Jepngetich said. “And, he said ‘if you want to be in the U.S. with me then you just have to run. There is no other way you’re going to be there.’ And, so that’s why I decided to run.”

The simple decision changed Jepngetich’s life. She ran in a few open races in Kenya and the times she received were enough to stir the interest of Wilkins. It wasn’t long after Rotich’s e-mail that Wilkins was on the phone with Jepngetich’s coach and it wasn’t long after that, that Jepngetich would leave Kenya and enroll as a freshman at Vanguard University.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In Jepngetich’s first year at Vanguard, she set records as the fastest freshman on the team. This year, the sophomore captured the women’s individual title in the NAIA Region II Championships on Nov. 3.

She became Vanguard’s first Region II champion. She had finished second at the meet as a freshman.

This season, she also set a new Golden State Athletic Conference record with a time of 17 minutes, 30 seconds on a 5K course on Oct. 28.

In just her first year of running competitively, she went on to compete in the NAIA women’s cross country national championships and placed 17th. Not bad in your first year of running competitively.

Now she’s looking to improve Saturday, when she returns to the NAIA national championships at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

“I was kind of [shocked],” Jepngetich said of her first year with the Lions. “I was thinking back in high school that I’d never be able to run. I never thought there would be a day that I’d run [let alone] do good, do real good.”

Wilkins, however, a former cross country runner himself, was not shocked at Jepngetich’s success.

“She’s naturally gifted,” said Wilkins, “She’s a hard worker and she’s competitive. You’ve got to be a little competitive and driven to be a good distance runner and be able to tolerate pain. She has all that and has trained well but a lot of it is just natural ability.”

And while Jepngetich was good in her first year, in her second year she has been even better.

“I felt she was going to step up to another level this year just because of how hard she trained over the summer,” Wilkins said. “We had a good feeling that it was really going to pay off.”

In her second year, Jepngetich has picked up right where she left off and has once again led the Lions. The 22-year-old has continued to dominate, winning first place in four of six races this season including individual wins at the GSAC and NAIA Region II Championships.

Jepngetich’s ability to dominate individually has also helped her team to better results.

“It always helps when you have someone running out ahead of you,” Wilkins said. “And, sometimes a ways out ahead of you, it’s going to make you realize ‘Wow, I’ve got a ways to go,’ so a lot of our girls, although they’re talented, have pushed even harder.”

The Lions have certainly pushed harder running behind Jepngetich. They took third place in the GSAC and NAIA Region II Championships.

But all of this has just been preparation for what has become the team and Jepngetich’s focus — the NAIA national championship on Saturday

The team has steadily improved each year at the race and Jepngetich has been a big part of the recent surge. The team went from 19th in a field of 28 teams to 13th place in Jepngetich’s first year. The Lions are ranked No. 11 in her second year.

Jepngetich, an accounting major, is confident heading into the race and is looking to improve on last year’s finish.

“I believe I’m going to do well,” said Jepngetich, “I’m confident going into the race because I trained really hard during the summer and I love my coach’s training program. I’ve been putting my effort in it and I think it’s going to pay off.”

Her coach believes Jepngetich will do more than just pay off. He believes that his Kenyan runner may win the whole thing in just her second year of competitive racing.