Shadrack Songok runs so he can go to school more than he runs for the school.

That the two come close speaks volumes for how much Songok has taken to his new Texas A&M cross country team.

"Running, it's created for me a way to continue school and to get to where I am right now," said Songok, a native of Kapsabet, Kenya, who lives by a mantra of Kenyan student-athletes across the world. "We tell ourselves keep training hard and keep your scholarship and study because that's the main thing. I can't imagine being here if it wasn't for running."

And make no mistake, Songok can run.

The former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islander is a three-time NCAA champion, winning the indoor 5,000 meters in 2008 and the outdoors 10,000 meters the past two seasons at TAMU-CC.

"Generally, I'm just proud of the accomplishment that I did it at that level of the NCAA nationals," Songok said. "It's considered one of the most competitive sports in college, so I'm proud of all three of them."

The senior's personal bests are 13 minutes, 42.96 seconds in the 5,000 and 28:16.47 in the 10,000.

Songok was directed to TAMU-CC by a friend on the student athletic club he belonged to in Kenya. The friend even phone and sent out e-mails to coaches for Songok, who says TAMU-CC cross country coach Shawn Flanagan e-mailed Songok immediately. Songok appreciated the interest, and the recruiting process was over.

After running in Corpus Christi for the bulk of his college career, Songok brought his talents to Texas A&M this fall, where he plans to finish his studies as a chemical engineer.

Meanwhile, he has one cross country and one indoor season of eligibility remaining, which pleases A&M cross country coach Dan Waters.

"We feel lucky enough to be able to work with him and get him to come here," Waters said. "We did something right somewhere to get someone like that to transfer here. [The team] runs more with emotion and a purpose understanding that we can do some special things at the end of the year in the championship portion of our season. That whole point is undeniable, that we feel we can go into meets and really compete."

Songok has shown his worth, leading the No. 18 Aggies in all three meets he's participated in. Kevin McNab has finished second to Songok each time, finishing anywhere from 13 to 40 seconds behind.

When the team has its intense practices, Songok also finds himself running alone most of the time. But he's come to enjoy the workouts that allow him to run with the others, a few of whom have much in common academically with Songok.

"I've enjoyed every moment, and being with the team, I can't imagine being anywhere else," the 24-year-old said. "I'm in just the right place where I wanted to be."

Songok admits he's also taken notes about school pride from his teammates.

"I learn from them the importance of representing the school and representing the team, and it's really great," Songok said.

On Saturday in Ames, Iowa, Songok gets his first taste of a Big 12 meet. It's something he's looked forward to since learning about the league while running as an Islander.

"Even when I was in Corpus, I wished I was competing in the Big 12 championship, because I know it's one of the competitive conferences for sure," Songok said. "I'm competitive too, and I'm looking forward to that.

"It is really interesting and fun to see a team get stronger and stronger, and now that I'm here with a strong team I can't imagine what it's going to be like competing in the Big 12."

Third-ranked Oklahoma State is the favorite along with perennial power No. 17 Colorado.

Waters admits it would take something extra special for the Aggies to keep pace with them, but he's hoping with a strong experienced group and Songok leading the way, A&M can top the second tier of teams, which includes Texas, Missouri and host Iowa State.

The Aggies recently competed in the Chili Pepper Festival and won, defeating host Arkansas. Songok was third individually and McNab 12th. The other three runners that scored finished within seven seconds of each other with Mitch Bible taking 20th, Kevin Ondrasek 21st and Joe Sauvageau 23rd.

Beating Arkansas could help the Aggies get into the national meet, which A&M believes is feasible considering its earlier third-place performance at the Notre Dame Invitational.

"[Having all five runners] at 25-flat is kind of the litmus test for making it to nationals," Waters said. "We went to Notre Dame and not only did we have five under 25, we had five under 24:40. It was a vast improvement, and they started thinking about that, saying OK coach you said for four years straight if have five under 25, we should be at nationals. We might get last, but we'd be at nationals."

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NOTES -- Songok hopes to run track until he's about 30. He would then think about road racing if his job allows for it. He says he believes runners lose their speed once they start running marathons.