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If there was a surprise to come out of this year's Foot Locker Regionals, it was Nurani Sheikh's win in the West Regional. In fact, we have to admit that we'd never even heard of him before. Sheikh's win sent us scrambling for information -- and we found that he conveniently has his own web site. We learned that he came to the U.S. in August 2000 as a refugee from Somalia. He had lived in refugee camps with relatives for about 10 years and was separated from his parents during Somalia's Civil War. He has been reunited with some of his family members in Salt Lake City where he now lives in an apartment with his mother, one brother and two sisters. And, oh yes, he can run. Sheikh ran personal bests of 4:23 and 9:28 in the mile and two mile last spring. This fall, he finished third in the Utah State Meet after his aggressive race strategy failed. Utah runs its state meet so early in the year (October 17 this year) that he had plenty of time to gain fitness and perfect his race strategy. He won the Utah Meet of Champions November 3, beating one of the runners who had finished in front of him at the state meet. And then he won the Pre-Foot Locker West Meet November 10, beating the other runner who had been in front of him at the state meet. At the West Regional, Sheikh ran a patient race, waiting until the last half mile to make his move and sprinting by Billy Nelson of California. He completed the hilly 5k course in 15:25, winning by seven seconds.
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Hometown:
Salt Lake City, UT and Somalia