Sometimes the twists and turns of life can bring unanticipated benefits. That’s certainly the case for Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott.
Kiptoo-Biwott’s 9,000-mile journey to Oregon from his home in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley has had its share of ups and downs, its trials and tribulations, but also great successes.
He dealt with frustration and injury, but also became a husband and a father, and an integral part of the No. 3 cross country team in the nation.
Born and raised in Eldoret, Kenya, Kiptoo-Biwott came to the United States as an exchange student where he ran for La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, N.M., before moving on to the University of New Mexico. As a freshman, he finished 14th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, earning All-America honors.
The situation at New Mexico didn’t work out for him, however, and after one year, Kiptoo-Biwott transferred to Oregon. After being forced to redshirt the 2005-06 season, he had to deal with injuries that limited his success his first season competing for the Ducks.
Now fully healthy, married and the proud father of a baby boy, Kiptoo-Biwott is ready once again to make an impact on the national scene.
Kiptoo-Biwott wasn’t always a serious runner. Even though, he described his tribe as active runners – “In my tribe we just run” – he described himself as more of a “momma’s boy” who “didn’t want to do much at all.”
That changed when he was 13. His brothers came into his room one day when he was sleeping and woke him up and said, “OK, you’ve talked about running and so you ready to go running?” Kiptoo-Biwott said.
“I had no choice because back home, all the brothers say something you just have to do it. You have no choice, so I started running with them but, oh, it was bad,” he said. “They took me for a long run and I got home like five hours later and I was just dying and really mad.”
By the time he entered Kapenguria High School in Kenya, he had decided to take running seriously, joining the cross country and track teams.
In 2002, Kiptoo-Biwott moved to Albuquerque where he enrolled as part of an exchange program at La Cueva High School.
The next fall, Kiptoo-Biwott won the New Mexico 5A cross country title by almost a minute and a half. He followed that up by winning the West Regional championship and placing third at the high school national championships.
He continued his impressive year in the spring by winning two state track titles and was national champion in the two-mile.
After graduating, Kiptoo-Biwott enrolled at the University of New Mexico. He found immediate success there as well, placing 14th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships as a freshman, earning All-America honors.
He also competed in indoor and outdoor track for the Lobos, but decided he needed a fresh start somewhere else. Kiptoo-Biwott was philosophical about his time at New Mexico.
“Sometimes in life you think things might work out, but they turn out not to be what you expected. That’s exactly what happened to me at New Mexico,” he said. “Sometimes you try the best you can but get just tired, man. You just say, ‘You know what? Forget about it.’”
At that point, he had to decide where to transfer.
When he came to the United States, Kiptoo-Biwott first heard about Steve Prefontaine and the University of Oregon.
“When I was in New Mexico they talked about Pre,” he said. “I watched… the Pre movie and then the Pre Classic. I started paying a little more attention, just searching the Web, just talking to my Kenyan friends in New Mexico. They said, ‘That’s the place you need to be.’”
Oregon was also in a period of transition at the time. Martin Smith had just resigned and the athletic department was looking for a new head track and cross country coach. When Vin Lananna’s name entered the picture, Kiptoo-Biwott made up his mind.
“I had rumors that he (Lananna) was going to be the head coach. It was just word on the street. And that’s what really moved me to decide to really come to the University of Oregon,” he said.
Kiptoo-Biwott enrolled at Oregon in the fall of 2005, hoping that New Mexico would allow him to compete immediately without having to redshirt.
“I worked so hard that summer before school starts and hoping maybe something might happen from New Mexico to let me compete for U of O, but it didn’t happen,” he said. “So I kept just keeping my head up and hoping maybe tomorrow they might say something. But they didn’t say anything, so I ended up redshirting.”
During that redshirt year, Kiptoo-Biwott was sitting in discussion section for one of his classes, when the teacher decided to pass out candy to all the students. The candy was being passed around and a woman handed it to him.
“I looked at her and something just struck me and I knew she was the one. We started just talking, you know, being friends and going out,” he said.
The relationship developed from there and Kiptoo-Biwott and Katharine Howard were married in December 2006.
Athletically, the redshirt year was tough for Kiptoo-Biwott.
“I just wanted to have that uniform with the big ‘O’,” he said. “I was fit, but because of frustration I might have trained myself too much and cost me the following year.”
Kiptoo-Biwott won his first race as a Duck, the Pier Park Preview in Portland, but got hurt right before the Dellinger Invitational and had to battle through injuries. He never got completely healthy the rest of the season.
“He was in great shape at the beginning of the season and he was hanging on really the whole year,” Lananna said.
“The coaches tried, the trainers tried so hard to try to fix it, but it didn’t just cooperate,” Kiptoo-Biwott said. “I was just running, but inside me I was crying.”
At the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, Kiptoo-Biwott placed sixth. He followed that up with a 20th-place finish at the West Regional Championships in Portland and a 98th-place finish at the NCAA championship meet, far off of his All-America performance two years earlier.
“He was sick at the Pac-10s, he was a little injured at the regional meet and he just really toughed it out during the NCAAs,” Lananna said.
The month after the cross country season ended, he and Katharine got married.
Finally healthy and newly married, Kiptoo-Biwott entered the track season with high expectations. Even though he finished less than a second away from earning All-America honors in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championships, Kiptoo-Biwott felt he could have done better.
“In the back of my mind I know I could have done better than that,” he said. “But if you’re not fit, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Of course, qualifying for the national championships was not nearly the biggest news of the spring for Kiptoo-Biwott. On April 23, Katharine gave birth to Xavier Douglas Kipkemboi Biwott.
Having a wife and son has changed things for Kiptoo-Biwott.
“When we were not married we had a lot of time on our hands, but right know I have my family with me, I have class, I have practice, I have work. So it tries to squeeze you a little bit, but it’s in a good way,” he said. “Every time after practice or work I’m really tired I get home and I just see my family and they are really happy and I have the time to hang out with my wife and my son. It just makes my day, man, it just takes all the pain that I had in me away. I feel like a fresh man again.”
Kiptoo-Biwott also spent his summer trying to make it so he’d feel like a fresh man this cross country season. He worked with strength and conditioning coach Jim Radcliffe on his flexibility in an effort to avoid some of his injuries.
He then began to build his fitness back up slowly, making sure he doesn’t peak too early in the season.
It seems to be paying off for him so far. He’s healthy and believes he can be a contender at the national level.

Individual accomplishments and goals are not what Kiptoo-Biwott is all about, however. Seeing his teammates succeed is what drives him and seeing them work hard pushes him to not let them down.
“There’s nothing that makes me happy than to see my teammates doing the right thing, performing well, running PRs,” he said. “I don’t want to be the one to be bringing down these boys, they’ve been working so hard.”
Once the season is over, Kiptoo-Biwott hopes to visit Kenya with Katharine and Xavier.
“I was planning (to visit) this summer, but then my son, who is five months old, is too young to travel right now, so we’re hoping this Christmas we should be able to go and visit and give my parents a chance to meet my son,” he said.
When he finishes college, Kiptoo-Biwott would like to ultimately compete at the highest levels of the sport.
“I’m still working on my U.S. citizenship, so depending on which one comes first, then I’ll try to represent that country in the Olympics or World Championships,” he said. “That’s my goal.”
His coach sees a bright future for him. “A lot of things are changing for Shadrack but he’s clearly emerged as a great leader, a young man with a very positive attitude and a very bright future,” Lananna said.