Goshen College’s cross-country and track and field teams have had the presence of Kenyan athletes for the past three decades, since the team was unter the tutelage of Rick Clark. 

Now, under the current leadership of Rustin Nyce, the director of track and field and cross country, this tradition remains. Currently, there are five Kenyan student-athletes between the men’s and the women’s teams. 

Nyce mentions how communication plays a crucial role in order for this legacy to endure. “It’s all about their word of mouth. When you come to another country you want to come to a place that you know you are going to be taken care of. They tell people they know, ‘Oh, you should come here,’” he said.

What makes GC stand out from other schools is mainly the nursing program. “There are some schools they want to go to but they won’t let them major in nursing, or their nursing program just doesn’t accommodate athletes,” said Nyce. GC’s nursing department, on the other hand, is completely open to athletes of any sports.

During the recruiting process, Nyce makes sure to build a relationship with his athletes before they arrive. Whenever they are on campus and ready to compete, they become game changers. “Some of our better runners are from Kenya, so that has impacted our team in an athletic way,” he said. 

Despite their athletic success, Nyce highlights how the team has been impacted in a cultural way as well. “Getting to learn from different cultures and seeing different perspectives contributes to the culture of the program itself. The campus community, again, is richer with more diversity,” he said.

Last year’s LEAFY awards acknowledged two Kenyan athletes; Mathew Keitany, a junior nursing major, and Nelson Kemboi ‘24, won in two different categories. Keitany took home the award for Male Athlete of the Year, while Kemboi was recognized for the John Ingold Award of Excellence, an award presented to a senior male student-athlete who excelled both athletically and academically while exemplifying leadership and contributing to the GC community.

Looking ahead, Nyce said that the number of Kenyan athletes on the team probably won’t get bigger. 

“Unfortunately we don’t have unlimited scholarship money and a lot of athletes from Kenya don’t have the resources to pay a lot … but the Kenyan athletes that we have work really hard working on a campus job, or staying over the summer to work and save money to be able to live here and do school,” he said.

Also concerning their future, Nyce emphasizes the importance of their academic path and the finish line. He said, “Every one of them who graduated with a degree is a success story … athletically, those [titles] are good but, having a degree and being able to generationally change and support their family is greater than the running that comes with it.”