Colby’s track and field team will begin training for the 2015 season this weekend in San Diego, and few Mules will be happier to bask in the warm California sun than David Chelimo.

A native Kenyan, Chelimo has had enough of his second Maine winter. But he’s also eager to find out how much he’s improved since last year, which was his first in competitive track and field.

Chelimo ended last spring with a 12th-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Division III Championships. After a summer spent working out at Colby and successful cross country and indoor track seasons, the sophomore is looking forward to what this season holds.

“I definitely want to beat last year’s time,” said Chelimo, who qualified for NCAAs with a time of 3:49.97. “But I think we’ll see after my first week how I compare to last year.”

For all intent and purposes, Chelimo is still in uncharted territory when it comes to running. He’d done very little of it in a competitive sense before joining the Kenyan Scholar-Athlete Project (KenSAP), a program in his native country that helps economically disadvantaged Kenyans gain entry and receive scholarships to elite American universities.

In addition to requiring all participants rank within the top 1 percent of Kenyan national high school graduation exam, KenSAP’s admissions process embraces the country’s rich running tradition and requires a 1,500-meter run by applicants. After his completing his run, writing some essays and an interview, Chelimo was one of a dozen students selected for the program in 2012.

KenSAP has produced great college runners such as nine-time Division III national champion Peter Kosgei at Hamilton College and Abby Cheruiyot, the first KenSAP student at Colby who went on to earn 12 letters in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. Although many great runners preceded Chelimo in the program’s 10-year history, Colby coach Jared Beers had to temper expectations for Chelimo when he arrived in Waterville in the summer 2013.

“He must have been, oh, one year maybe running on dirt tracks in Kenya,” Beers said. “I knew he had some ability, but it was hard to say how long it would be before it started to reveal itself.”

Not very long, as it turned out. Chelimo was NESCAC’s Rookie of the Year in cross country after finishing 10th at the conference meet, earning second team all-conference honors and helping to lead the Mules to their first berth in the NCAA Division III championships.

Chelimo was as surprised as anyone that he found success so early.

“I had no idea. It just happened because I didn’t have any racing experience,” he said. “I think by the end of the season, I was feeling pretty confident.”

He signed up for indoor track but didn’t get much of a chance to test his confidence because he missed most of the season after coming down with mononucleosis. Beers believes the layoff turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed Chelimo to recover physically and mentally from his first season of competition and focus on getting settled in at Colby.

Refreshed and more relaxed, Chelimo emerged as one of the top distance runners in the country during outdoor track.

He won both 5,000-meter races he entered, including the New England Division III championship. He won the 1,500 at the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational, then finished second in the state meet and at the NESCAC championships, where he was seeded eighth, He ran his best time of the season, 3:49.97 (.7 of a second behind the school record), while finishing third at the Open New England championships. The time qualified 13 out of 20 entrants for the NCAA Championships.

“You could just see as he got fitter and sharper he could hang on longer and lead the faster races longer,” Beers said.

Endurance wasn’t his only challenge at nationals. Chelimo would have to learn how to run in a pack, something he didn’t have to worry about much leading up to the big meet.

He led the pack for the first 100 meters and was in third place after each of the first two laps. By the third lap, he’d dropped to eighth and ended up in 12th with his third-best time of the season, 3:52.01.

Chelimo was happy with his first NCAA championship experience, especially that he got to know Beers more and could look forward to staying on campus and training over the summer.

He went into cross country season fit and confident and put together an All-American season while leading the Mules to a New England Division III championship and fifth place at the NCAA Championships. Chelimo finished 11th out of 280 finishers at nationals.

Although healthier than last year, he again cut back on his training during indoor season, focusing more on gaining racing experience than winning titles (although he did win the state 1,000-meter championship).

Chelimo will once again compete in the 1,500, 800 and possibly the 5,000 this spring. Beers could even have him race sprints if the Mules are in a pinch.

“He can run a surprisingly fast 400,” Beers said. “He’s one of our top six 400 runners. You don’t get many distance guys who can run that fast in the 400.”

As for another crack at NCAAs, Beers is again taking a wait-and-see approach.

“I’d love him to get to nationals again, but I think it’s a little early to have those expectations,” he said.

Regardless of his coach’s expectations, Chelimo anticipates he’ll put plenty of pressure on himself this year.

“But I think the most important thing is to take each race one at a time and do what you have with the moment,” he added. “I’m really looking forward to this season.”

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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