Jesse Songo, a first-year on the Goshen College men’s cross-country team, ran and won his first two cross-country meets this fall.

In addition to being undefeated, Songo has already received three awards and broken two individual school records.

Songo’s first meet was at the Knight Invite at Calvin University on Sept. 19. The meet took place in the rain and mud, creating slippery conditions. Despite the state of the course, Songo managed to win the invite with an 8K time of 25:10.7, breaking the Maple Leafs’ first-year record previously set in 2013. Songo received the Everence Student-Athlete of the Week award for the performance.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 2, Songo continued his record-setting by running a time of 23:45.7 at the Joe Piane-Notre Dame Invitational. The course was flatter and dryer than the Knight Invite. Songo’s time set a new school record by 32.7 seconds and he was awarded the Crossroads League Men’s Cross-Country Runner of the Week.

Songo was also awarded the NAIA Men’s Cross-Country Runner of the Week, which is a national accolade.

Songo said, “When I was young, I always wanted to be a professional runner, so breaking the school record means a lot because it’s hard to achieve that.”

Jacob Friesen, a senior on the men’s cross-country team, said, “It’s super inspirational to have someone on the team who’s running at that level because having a frontrunner in cross-country makes a huge difference.”

Friesen also spoke to Songo’s character. “He is the most humble guy ever,” he said. “Super funny, super supportive. In workouts, he’ll run with you and encourage you.” 

Rustin Nyce, the director of track and field and cross-country, echoed Friesen’s sentiments. “He’s super humble and easygoing,” Nyce said. “He’s just a really good guy, so if you don’t know him, get to know him a little bit.”

When asked what he believes he brings to the team, Songo said, “Good vibes, good sportsmanship!” 

At the Oct. 2 invitational, Songo’s time also contributed to the new men’s cumulative team record of 2:04:29. The team is ranked No. 9 in the NAIA Men’s Cross-Country Top 25 Ratings. 

In the cross-country scoring system, each team’s top five runners are awarded a number of points equivalent to their place in the race. The winner is the team with the fewest combined points. Songo’s meet wins, therefore, only added one point to the Leafs’ total.

Nyce said that having another frontrunner in Songo not only helps the team’s score, but also takes pressure off of the team’s other top runners, such as Friesen, junior Duncan Kogei and senior Drew Hogan. Nyce also said that having more athletes running at a very high level elevates the conditioning they all put in because they have more comparisons to each other.

When asked about the team’s future, Friesen said, “We’re ranked top 10 right now, and I think that just makes conversations with recruits that much easier. You’re coming into a program that has high expectations. They’ve performed at a high level before.” 

“The expectation is that you’re making nationals and then competing at a high level,” Friesen said. “You’re able to recruit talent out of high school that has a lot more skill.” 

This year, Friesen said that the team’s goal is to win or score towards the very top of the NAIA national meet in Vancouver, Washington. “I think we have the caliber of guys to do it.” 

Nyce’s current goals are less demanding. “If we can just toe the line at the national meet, it doesn’t matter if we’re the first team in, if we’re ranked number one or we’re the last team that made it. As long as we can get on the line at nationals, that’s where we want to be.”

Songo has his individual sights set even higher. “My personal goal is to be a national champion.” 

With reporting by Keegan Wyse, Peter and Levi Moser