By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – When he strolls along the shade-lined sidewalks on the Tennessee Tech campus, hardly anyone takes notice. He's not an imposing figure who creates his own shade like, say, an offensive tackle on the Golden Eagle football team.
He stands about six feet tall. And he's slight, weighing just under 140 pounds.
He's not built for power. He's not built for speed.
He is, however, built for endurance. For distance. For gracefully running and running. And running. And running.
And Geoffrey Sambu is built for one more thing – to serve as the cornerstone of a building project that has just gotten underway in earnest at Tennessee Tech. Not a brick-and-mortar campus building, but a project being designed and engineered by first-year cross country and track & field coach Wayne Angel.
Sambu, the first Kenyan runner on the Tennessee Tech men's cross country team, is the type of runner that Angel expects to make such an impact on the program, and the Ohio Valley Conference, that future runners will take notice and realize that the new coach is serious about success. And winning championships.
"He has had a tremendous impact on our team already, just from a leadership standpoint and motivating his teammates," Angel says. "He trains very hard and they, in turn, try to run with him.
One person in particular is Brennan Huber, a sophomore from Greenbrier, Tenn. Huber is now third on the all-time list of best 8K times in school history, and it was, in part, the motivation of competing with Geoffrey that helped him achieve that, according to Angel.
It took the Kenyan just three meets to shatter the school record, running an 8K time of 24:41 at the Commodore Invitational, a meet hosted at Percy Warner Park in Nashville by Vanderbilt.
He managed that time despite falling to his knees early in the race, and being forced to catch up to the front-runners. He did so, placing fifth overall with a time that is the best in Tech history at that distance.
At least, that is, until the next time he races that distance.
That time toppled the record of 25:30 which had stood for 14 years, since Chris Kennedy established it as the school standard. Now Sambu's mark is the record, followed by Kennedy's time. Huber's time of 25:40 is next on the list.
"He's the real deal, and they all respect him, and that's what I really like," Angel says. "They're like a band of brothers, and they embrace him. And the women on our team embrace him, too. He's our 'silent warrior' and leader."
Sambu was recruited out of Kenya by Angel to attend Florida A&M, where the veteran coach was turning around a lackluster Rattler track & field program. He helped FAMU capture a conference championship in his one season on the roster.
When Angel left FAMU and took the position at Tech, Sambu chose to follow the coach who recruited him out of Africa.
"His transition went smoothly from Day One in coming here," Angel says. "Everyone at Tennessee Tech has taken care of him, helped settle any concerns he had, and he loves it here."
As Angel sees it, Sambu's success as a sophomore is a harbinger of the future, and a signal to other potentially great runners that Cookeville can be a haven for outstanding track & field athletes.
"I believe his presence on our team is going to be really huge for us." Angel says. "When I was in South Africa recently, I was able to share with some of the coaches there about how Geoffrey is now at Tennessee Tech, and how he is going to be a building block for our entire program. I think we can find kids from South Africa, from Kenya, and also from the United States. I think they will see we're doing some big things here.
"The coaches in the OVC are seeing a difference already, and they can see that we're getting ready to do some big things here. He's a foundation for our future, and we'll build on him."
Sambu and the Golden Eagle men's and women's cross country teams will be in Louisville Saturday to compete in the Greater Louisville Classic.
