The first thing to know about Mohamud Ige is that you do not know Mohamud Ige.
The senior cross country standout at Class 4A South is one of the nation’s best prep runners, with Olympic potential. But that is not the point.
“People think I’m cocky, but I’m not. I have confidence in myself,” said Ige, a native of Somalia. “They don’t know where I am coming from. I’m just being honest with myself. And even if they think I am bragging, I’m doing the thing, aren’t I?”
With that, Ige staked his claim as the runner to beat as the boys cross country season begins today. Regional qualifying will be completed by Oct. 22, and the state meet for 3A-5A will be Oct. 29 at the Vineyard Golf Club/El Pomar Youth Sports Complex in Colorado Springs.
And the truth is, Ige is “doing the thing” and he could be just getting started.
“When his conditioning catches up with his racing attitude, this kid will be scary. And it’s happening,” said Brad Barnes, a 20-year coach for Team XC, a city cross country club team. “Mo has Olympic potential.”
Ige also has Herculean desires.
After his father died in war- torn Somalia when Ige was 2 years old, his mother, Khadija Munye, moved the family to Kenya. Six years later, refugee papers were approved and they moved to the U.S., where a living was made from scratch.
That, in an unfairly abbreviated version, is what motivates Ige to run faster than anyone else.
“My dad – it’s hard for me to look back and not see his face,” Ige said. “That, along with my mother, is what makes me compete. The only thing I want to do is pay her back for what she did for me.”
Ige finished second last season with a time of 15 minutes, 13.2 seconds in the 5-kilometer, and he has plenty of time barriers he would like to break.
He would like to break 15 minutes in the 5K, 1:50 in the 800 meters, four minutes in the mile and 8:40 in the 2-mile run. Barnes thinks Ige could break 14 minutes in the 5K in the next few years.
“I hear all the time that he could break the four-minute mile in high school,” said Barnes, who is responsible for geting Ige into running as a seventh-grader. “Do I think he could do it? Yeah. Do I think it’s important? No.”
What is important for Ige is, in order: winning high school state team and individual titles, challenging national records in college, graduating from college and competing in the Olympics.
“He is the most wonderful kid there could possibly be. He is seriously concerned about the whole team and everyone around him,” South coach Nancy Gregorio said.
South, ranked No. 6 in the country by national high school runners’ magazine The Harrier, is the heavy favorite to repeat as 4A team champion, with D’Evelyn making its usual challenge.
Junior Steven Weeks of Arvada is the hands-down favorite in 5A after blowing away the field last season with a time of 15:33. The team competition will be closer, with Cherry Creek, Fort Collins, Rocky Mountain and Smoky Hill vying for the title.
In 3A, senior Steve Flint of Bayfield is the top returner, and The Classical Academy is the strongest team in the field.
