“I’m not just coaching our runners to win trophies. Running is an amazing activity, and I want them to embrace running as an exercise. Once they do that, then running becomes something they will do beyond Brookstone. I want them to win, but I also want them to run for the rest of their lives,” says Dr. Dorothy Cheruiyot, science teacher and head cross country/assistant track coach at Brookstone School.
Dr. Cheruiyot knows quite a bit about running as a lifestyle instead of as an activity simply to occupy a short period during the fall or spring. She grew up in the village of Kapoi, located near Kitale, a city of over 100,000 in western Kenya. In her native home, running is a way of life, and Kenyan runners are widely recognized as the best in the world. Dr. Cheruiyot says her running career began in the fifth grade. In high school, she ran a 17:27 5K – a time that would be considered above average for high school males in Georgia. She used her talent for running to land a scholarship at Columbus State University, where she ran for the Cougars for four years. Recruited by current CSU women’s head basketball coach Jonathan Norton, Dr. Cheruiyot was All-Conference twice and CSU’s MVP for three consecutive years.
After graduating from Columbus State with a bachelor’s degree in biology, she remained at CSU and obtained a master’s in environmental science. From there, she enrolled at Auburn University and earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences.
While Dr. Cheruiyot was working on her master’s at CSU, she worked as a graduate assistant with the cross country team. “It was there that I realized I could coach. I enjoyed the interaction with the student-athletes outside of the classroom,” she says. Dr. Cheruiyot was working as a graduate assistant at Auburn when the Brookstone job came available. She was hired to teach – she teaches biology and AP environmental science – but coaching came with the job. After all, what school with track and cross country teams is going to hire a former All-Conference runner from the country that produces the best runners in the world and not offer her a coaching position?
Dr. Cheruiyot has finished her second year at Brookstone. During that time, she has seen the running programs at the school improve dramatically. “This year, the girls’ cross country team qualified for state. The boys missed it by one place. The track team has done well considering we’re the smallest team in the region. We had four kids go to state this year, and all four placed in the top eight,” she says. What has made the difference is the kids’ enthusiasm for what Dr. Cheruiyot has been doing with the programs. “They are really driven and willing to put in the effort it takes to be successful. For example, many of the boys are now training in the mornings as well as during our regular afternoon workouts. So they’re running twice a day now.”
It doesn’t hurt that Dr. Cheruiyot is practicing her craft in a city that, according to the Road Runner’s Club of America, is one of the most runner-friendly cities in the country. In the few short years that Dr. Cheruiyot has been in Columbus, she has seen the running community grow even more. “We need to recognize that running is the foundation for every other sport. It makes everything else stronger, whether it’s soccer, tennis, even golf and baseball. When we have the opportunity to run, everything else improves. People are now embracing running more and more in the United States. There weren’t that many people running when I first arrived in Columbus. Now there are more running than ever,” she says.
Cross country and track at Brookstone will only improve moving forward. As each group of runners becomes more accustomed to Dr. Cheruiyot’s training methods, and the miles get bigger and the race strategy more refined, Brookstone could very easily find itself at the pointy end of the field, despite its relatively small size. And Dr. Cheruiyot doesn’t plan on going anywhere in the foreseeable future. “I’m very happy with where I am. I am satisfied teaching and coaching here at Brookstone,” she says.
Dr. Cheruiyot has one daughter, Elenor Jeruto, who is attending high school in Kenya. A swimmer and golfer, Elenor will graduate in November and come to the United States to attend college.
If you meander through a few back roads, it’s 32 miles from Columbus to Auburn. Or at least that’s how far it is on the route Dr. Cheruiyot took when she ran to Auburn from Columbus. On two different occasions. Also, she has run one marathon, a 50K ultramarathon in Mississippi, and two 60-plus mile legs in the Run for the Heroes run across Georgia relay. So yeah, she’s serious about that running beyond school thing!
Coach’s Corner/Columbus Valley/June 2014
Dr. Dorothy Cheruiyot
Brookstone School
Columbus, Georgia
Robert Preston, Jr.
Dr. Cheruiyot brings love of running from Kenya to Columbus
