The Oregonian published my story about Jefferson High’s (Portland) Boru Guyota on Wednesday.

First, I have to thank Mark Mathabane for tipping me off to what was happening with Boru, an Ethiopian emigrant who was on the verge of shelving his running career until Mathbane intervened.

Boru won the Class 5A title in the 800 in 2009 but had very little coaching and no training partners to speak of during most of his time at Jefferson.

But Boru is a good student, particularly in mathematics, and a hard worker.

With Mathabane’s encouragement, Boru’s diligence, and some help from Jefferson, Guyota has amassed a treasure chest full of scholarship money.

It’s heady stuff for a kid from rural Ethiopia, who herded his grandfather’s cattle to better grazing lands on the weekends when he wasn’t in school. Boru tells the story of a cobra that terrorized the area near his grandfather’s home.

And he on his way to the U.S., he was detained for nine months in a refugee camp/holding pen in Nairobi before the joyous day that he found out he was on a flight out. He was 16 then, and when he got to Portland he was placed into Jefferson as a freshman.

That means he will graduate from high school — as one of Jefferson’s valedictorians — as a 20-year old. That’s another challenge he overcame this spring: He was ruled too old to compete during the high school season.

The most recent conversation I had with Boru indicated he was learning toward the University of Portland,  which could work out tremendously for the Pilots. Rob Conner may be adding the final piece to the puzzle of a NCAA cross country championship contender. Time will  tell.

In the meantime, Boru will train with Nathan Mathabane, home from his first year at Princeton, and weigh his considerable options.