That's the Spirit: Going the Distance with Titus Kosgei

"You look at what you have and what you don't have, and what you don't have becomes your motivation," says Titus Kosgei, of growing up in Kenya. 

Now, a nurse practitioner in family medicine, Titus completed his bachelor's and master's at Mount Marty in 2012 and 2016 and earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Oklahoma City University in 2019. Despite limited access to healthcare as a driving force to help others, Titus would need a scholarship to receive his collegiate education. 

Turning to track and field, Titus trained himself to run competitively at collegiate recruiting standards, shaving seconds off his high school race times. "It was exhausting," he recalls. But it all paid off when he sent an email over 8,000 miles away to a coach in Yankton, South Dakota. 

His unwavering dedication caught Randy Fischer by surprise, Mount Marty's track and field and cross country coach until he retired in 2022. "Titus always focused on becoming better at whatever he did," and it showed in more places than one. 

While Titus became an All-Conference and All-American runner in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, he was also a familiar face at Sunday mass in Bishop Marty Chapel—one Father Jack Garvey, the university chaplain, noticed. 

"He came to my room one day and asked why I wasn't getting communion," says Titus, who, despite not being Catholic, found comfort in the church and Father Jack's homilies after attending a Catholic high school. "We became good friends." 

When Titus found himself in a hard situation at Mount Marty, it was Father Jack who stepped in to support him. "If anyone says there are no miracles, tell them there are always miracles." 

Naturally, Titus also found solace in the company of the Benedictine Sisters, who told him stories of their work in Tanzania, a neighbor to Kenya. "The mission of Mount Marty and the Benedictine Sisters have followed me everywhere I've gone," says Titus, from inside his office at PeaceHealth Santa Clara Primary Care Clinic in Eugene, Oregon. 

"I am very proud of how hard he works at every aspect of his life," says Randy, who Titus called on to stand in for his parents when they were unable to make it to the United States for his wedding. "Titus is like a son to us. It shows that Mount Marty is a community that embraces anyone who is a part of it." 

Titus continues to stay the course, but with a new goal—to support students at Mount Marty the way Father Jack supported him, who passed away in 2009. And knowing Titus, he'll go any distance to achieve it. 

"You never forget those building blocks," he says while thinking back on his years at Mount Marty. "And to think at the time, I was just looking for a school that had track and field."

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ABOUT MOUNT MARTY UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1936 by the Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery, Mount Marty University is South Dakota's only Catholic institution of higher education. Located along the bluffs of the Missouri River in Yankton, with additional locations in Watertown and Sioux Falls, Mount Marty offers undergraduate and graduate degrees focusing on student and alumni success in high-demand fields such as health sciences, education, criminal justice, business, accounting, and more. A community of learners in the Benedictine tradition, Mount Marty emphasizes academic excellence and develops well-rounded students with intellectual competence, professional and personal skills and moral, spiritual and social values. To learn more, visit mountmarty.edu.