Blogs : NCAA Division III Blog

The Sorghum Fields Project: Introducing Macharia Yuot

Macharia Yuot didn’t come to America as a runner. At the age of 9, he was forced by civil war to leave his village in Southern Sudan to escape persecution--an experience so jarring that he has no recollection of its specifics, only of the journey that would ensue.  After walking hundreds of miles through the Sudan and Ethiopia, he was able to find refuge with other Lost Boys in Kenya. It wasn’t until years later in 1999 that Macharia moved to the United States and enrolled at West Catholic High school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although his only athletic experience lay in soccer, the high school track coach eventually convinced him to run for the team.

Success didn’t come immediately for Macharia, and he spent many of his early races finishing back in the pack after going out hard with the leaders and dying. However, it wasn’t his times that caught the eye of an assistant coach, and later head coach Vince Touey, at Widener University in Chester, PA; it was his ability to suffer in races--"the core of being a successful runner is being able to suffer," Coach Touey would say.  In his first collegiate cross country race, he stopped after three miles, believing it to be a 5,000 meter race. After being told that he had two miles to go, he reentered the race and gamely hung on for third overall. That year, he went on to place 2^nd at the Division III National Cross Country Championships to Josh Moen, 5-time DIII Track and Cross Country National Champion.

Macharia continued to have great success throughout college, winning a total of six national championships. During his senior year, Macharia pulled off two of the greatest performances at Nationals in Division III history. In his last outdoor track and field meet, he became the first NCAA athlete in any division to win the steeplechase, 5,000m, and 10,000m in the same weekend. Coming back that fall for his final season of cross country eligibility, Macharia won that elusive individual title on an extremely muddy course in Ohio. That night, he flew back to Philadelphia, and the following day finished 6^th in the Philadelphia Marathon, running 2:25:39 in his debut.  Macharia had made a pro debut that turned heads less than 24 hours after leaving the NCAA system on a champion's note.

After graduating from Widener, Macharia decided to focus on the marathon, with the goal of becoming an American citizen and qualifying for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. He was able to attain both of these goals, but in reverse order. On June 16^th, 2007, Macharia ran 2:21:42 at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN. Later that summer, on August 2^nd, he was sworn in as a U.S. citizen, with his time from Grandma’s retroactively qualifying him for the Olympic Trials in New York City’s Central Park.

In September of this year, ESPN took Macharia back to the Sudan for the first time in almost 15 years, reuniting him with his family who he hadn’t seen since before he started his long walk as a 9-year-old child.  After returning as a man, and seeing the great hardships that confront the people of Sudan, Macharia felt overcome with emotion.  When coach Touey picked him up from the airport back in the U.S., he was shocked to see Macharia crying.  Reflecting later, Macharia would explain, "I hated myself, because I have so many things here, and they have so few there." Even in those first moments back from visiting his family, Macharia knew he had a responsibility to help; but first, he needed to recenter himself.  The first thing he did on getting back to the Philadelphia area was to head straight for the locker room at 4 P.M. to be with his teammates and heal.

On October 25^th, Widener University hosted an advanced screening of the ESPN E:60 feature of Macharia that was aired the  following month, and held a press conference with Macharia, coach Touey, and Tom Farrey (the ESPN reporter of the piece) answering questions. It was at this press conference that Macharia and his coach publicly announced a fundraising, named The Sorghum Fields Project, to help alleviate some of the obstacles that his mother, two sisters and their two children, still living in the Sudan, face on a daily basis. The initial goal of this project is to have enough money donated to be able to move his family from the Sudan to Kenya, and leave them financially and educationally secure for at least two years.

Going into the Trials on November 17^th, Yuot’s goal was not a certain place or time, but a certain performance level. He and his coach felt that if he was able to compete with runners who had qualified with times between 2:15-2:17, he would have run a good race. Entering the race, Yuot was the 109^th seeded marathoner out of the 126^th that qualified (excluding individuals who qualified based on 10k times), and yet he finished 33^rd, making the biggest improvement (place-wise) of any athlete in the field, and recording a new personal best by almost three minutes, in 2:18:56.  A month later at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, Macharia would record a top 10 finish on the same course that had been the site of his final National Championship one year prior.

It has been a privilege to work with Marcharia and Vince in effort to raise money for an extremely worthwhile cause. We also feel that we have an opportunity to reach an audience that both knows, and cares for, Macharia. As someone who came to college as a inexperienced runner, Macharia feels that he wouldn’t have been able to compete, let alone thrive, in a Division I program, and feels an extreme amount of respect for and gratitude towards the Division III running community.

Having recently rediscovered the bonds with his blood relatives, Macharia is now looking for support from his various extended families--the people of Widener University, the various Lost Boys support networks that aided his journey and settlement, and the running community, especially Division III.  "I have my competitors.  We have the connections we have as human beings outside of competition."  Though it is his ability to suffer that enables Macharia to run and win as he has, it is his respect for his fellow competitors that impels him to do so.  People often contribute to causes out of a meaningful though very much abstract appreciation for that which we choose to aid; the chance to donate to the Sorghum Fields Project is an opportunity to help not just one family's plight, but Macharia's family in particular. 

PRs:

5k: 14:13 (Penn Relays 2006)

4 miles: 18:33 (Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 2008)

8k: 24:00 (Paul Short 2005)

10k: 29:20 (Penn Relays 2007)

10 miles: 47:59 (Broad Street)

Half Marathon: 1:04:42 (Philadelphia Distance Run)

Marathon: 2:18:56 (2008 Olympic Marathon Trials)