By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
One of St. Joseph Central's best cross country runners will continue his prolific career in the city he now calls home.
Central senior Berhe Usman, who set a school record at the Class 5 boys' state cross country championships in Columbia this past November, signed his national letter of intent for Missouri Western cross country Thursday.
Usman made headlines when he set a new school record with a time of 15:53 at the state meet.
"That was one of my goals," Usman said, "was to be able to break a school record. That had been one of my goals since I came here. So, for me to be able to do that was an exciting moment. Because right when I did it, I looked at the time, and I was going crazy."
Usman transferred into Central in the fall of 2020. He came from Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City, where he had qualified for state cross country as a sophomore.
As a junior, Usman hadn't met Central cross country coach Bob Miller until a couple of months into his first semester. But after a solid performance by Usman in the spring track season, including a 5th place finish in the 4x800 meter relay at sectionals in May, Miller knew Usman was something special.
"(Berhe) came up and introduced himself to me in the middle of October last year," Miller said. "Right before we were getting ready for districts. I thought, 'Man, it'd have been good to know you about a month-and-a-half ago.'" We might be holding a state title right now."
Usman helped the Indians to a KC Suburban conference championship this past fall in cross country, and he hopes to do big things this coming spring in the 800, 4x800 relay, the mile and potentially two-mile race as well.
"He doesn't even really know what his talent level is," Miller pointed out. "I think the more he can stick his neck out and risk a little bit more, he's going to see some breakthrough stuff. I think college is going to be awesome for him, because it's an even longer (cross country) race in college and I think he's just going to get better as he trains more and the distances get longer."
Usman joins a Missouri Western cross country program that only had its first season in 2017. It's a Griffon program that recruits heavy locally. Central alums Mason Orscheln and Aidan Lindstrom are already on the Western roster.
"To have a place in town where kids can still live at home and maybe get their tuition paid for and pretty much get their school for free is just tremendous," Miller said.
For Usman, staying close to family was his main motivation when it came time to think about where to go to college.
"It was close to home, which was like a big thing," Usman said. "I didn't really want to go somewhere a couple of hours away from my family and stuff like that. So, it was a very good thing to be in St. Joseph. So, that was a big plus right there. I'm going to be one of the first people in my family to go to college, so that's an exciting thing. Yeah, just super excited about it."
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.