Steve Guymon, head track coach, was not sure what to expect when he was told a high school student in Kenya was interested in running for Harding. Guymon knew nothing about freshman Nehemia Too. Based on recommendations from those close to the runner, Guymon decided to sign him for the 2017-18 season. Due to the embassy holding the runner back last fall, Too joined the track team in January and had a mere two weeks before the first meet. Guymon quickly saw how special Too was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching him run the first few weeks had me go, \u2018Whoa, this guy\u2019s pretty good,\u2019\u201d Guymon said. \u201cI think he\u2019s one of the best runners Harding will ever have. I think he can accomplish a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Too arrived at Harding in top physical shape due to extensive training after his high school graduation. Too said that a promise he made to Guymon kept him motivated to train back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised coach that I would be the best athlete for him and take him to nationals, and that\u2019s what kept me working hard in Kenya, because I knew I made a promise and I wanted to deliver that promise,\u201d Too said. \u201cI came to the U.S. to do my best and go to nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guymon said that adding Too to the team was a good wake-up call for his other runners to push themselves even harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cRunners get in slumps and may think they\u2019re working hard when they\u2019re not, and all of a sudden a guy like Nehemia shows up and they\u2019re forced to try and keep up,\u201d Guymon said. \u201cI can see things with the group that they\u2019re running a little quicker than they used to and their attitudes are different. He\u2019s created a lot of pride with our distance group and our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior distance runner Lucas Goodspeed said that the sky is the limit for Too during his college career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we know how fast he can go,\u201d Goodspeed said. \u201cEvery race he\u2019s ran so far, he\u2019s finished really fast. Typically, that means that there is something left at the end, so it\u2019ll be interesting to see where he goes from here over the next four years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodspeed saw a glimpse of how fast Too could be when he broke a school record on March 10 at the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship in the 3,000 meters race. Too finished second with a time of 8 minutes and 1.34 seconds, breaking the previous time by five seconds. Guymon said he could not believe it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure that 8:06 record would ever get broken because the guy (Artur Kern) that held it was from Poland, and it may still be the national record for Poland,\u201d Guymon said. \u201cIf he would\u2019ve finished in the top eight, I would have been proud of that. What he did was even beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Too broke a school record, he said he was not content with his performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not used to losing the game, so when I lose, I don\u2019t feel very comfortable,\u201d Too said. \u201cI know there\u2019s something I have not done, so I have to come back and correct that mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Too\u2019s next opportunity to win came six days later at the Rhodes Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee, his first outdoor meet. Too continued to turn heads after he finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9 minutes and 10.32 seconds, the fifth-fastest time in Harding NCAA history. Guymon said that being on the same page with Too will be key for their future together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still learning what he can handle,\u201d Guymon said. \u201cI think he thinks sometimes that I\u2019m not giving him enough. He and I are in the process of finding things out about each other so we can get to that point and hopefully by outdoor nationals we\u2019ll be at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Too will run his first home meet tomorrow, as Harding hosts the Harding Invitational starting at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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