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SEATTLE – She has displayed her running talents to the world as a member of the Zimbabwe national team. Ultimately, she would like to display them again – in the 2012 Olympics.

Starting this week, Letiwe Patton will share those talents – and her experience – more fully with the Seattle Pacific cross country team when she takes the program's reins while head coach Erika Daligcon is on maternity leave.

“I'll be a little bit easy the first couple weeks and make sure they're ready to start some real workouts,” the 32-year-old Patton said with a laugh. “We'll get them in a good transition from summer to getting back to some business.”

Daligcon and her husband, SPU assistant men's soccer coach Nate Daligcon, are expecting the birth of their first child in a few days. Her leave runs through mid-October.

Until then, Patton (her first name is pronounced luh-TEE-way), who was a volunteer assistant this past spring for outdoor track, will be guiding the Falcons through their preseason workouts and their first several meets of the fall.

“I pretty much know what to expect from the athletes and what they should expect from me,” she said.

Added Daligcon, “We're really thrilled to have her on the coaching staff. She brings a lot of her expertise to this as well as being very open to doing things in a slightly different way. And the fact that she already has rapport with the returning athletes is going to make a big difference.”

Just like with Daligcon, SPU runners can be assured that Patton knows what she's talking about.

“She still loves to run and is aiming at being competitive in the next few years,” Daligcon said of Patton's hope of earning a spot on Zimbabwe's team for the 2012 London Olympics. “Part of effective coaching is knowing what the athlete is going through as far as race preparation, warm-up, and the psychological aspect. She brings knowledge from that background also.”

A native of Dorowa, Zimbabwe, on the far southeastern part of the African continent, Patton started running seriously when she was about 13.

She hasn't slowed down since then. Patton began competing for the Zimbabwe national track and cross country teams when she was 15, and in her first major competition – the World Cross Country Championships in Budapest, Hungary – she placed 22nd.

Ironically, she thought she had let down her homeland with that finish.

“I didn't know that being 22nd was good enough for being a Zimbabwean – I thought I had to be top three,” Patton said. “But the (national) federation was pretty happy. I was the only one who hadn't turned 16 yet.”

Ultimately, she wound up representing Zimbabwe numerous times in cross country even though track was “by far my favorite.”

“I didn't do much cross country practice in high school until (I got to) club,” Patton said. “I said, 'Oh, I can do cross country.' But we had competitions every weekend for track.”

Patton – known then by her maiden name of Marakurwa – was Zimbabwe's top junior distance runner for three years in a row. It led to an opportunity in 1997 to come to the United States on a scholarship program that brought athletes from around the world together with the goal of helping them make their respective Olympic teams for the 2000 Sydney Games.

She didn't make those Olympics, “but it was a good incentive for me to come here and go to school and finish up high school.”

FINDING SOME FOOTING IN U.S.
That was in Georgia – a world removed from her rural mining town birthplace of Dorowa, where she was the youngest of 10 children in her family (six older brothers, three older sisters).

“I was so homesick – for three months straight, I would call home every day,” Patton said. “I had the biggest culture shock. I had to get used to the food – all I could eat (here) that was good for me was Chinese food and India food.”

Although Patton has a solid command of English, there still was a certain language barrier to clear.

“Living in the South, they have this strong accent, and me being where I'm from, I have my own accent,” she said. “It took me quite awhile. I just transitioned into learning a lot about American culture.

“Before I knew it, I wasn't homesick any more.”

Patton's freshman year at Life University just north of Atlanta was followed by three more at the University of Idaho. After starring there in cross country and in the outdoor track steeplechase, earning a bachelor's degree in marketing and human resources and a masters in sports and recreation management, Patton planned to return to Georgia.

Instead, a former teammate and roommate from Idaho talked her into visiting Seattle.

“I ended up liking it. So I said, 'I can live here for a little bit, then move back to Georgia'” Patton said. “Two years later, I'm still here.”

Patton met her husband, Kyle, in Seattle (they just celebrated their first anniversary), and in 2008 helped out as a volunteer coach at Seattle University while also working for Verizon Wireless.

MAKING HERSELF AT HOME IN SEATTLE
Seeking a better fit, Patton dropped an e-mail to Daligcon. They clicked almost immediately.

“I came here and met the team, and it's so nice to talk with someone you're on the same page with,” she said. “It pretty much has become home away from home for me. It feels like it's the right place.”

When asked to take temporary charge of the program during Daligcon's leave, Patton had the usual apprehensions that most people have when stepping into a larger role.

Having raced past those, she's eager to get going. The stars from Seattle Pacific's three consecutive NCAA trophy women's teams have graduated. But Patton still sees plenty of talent here.

“If they're doing exactly what they should be doing over the summer and we're on the same page, I still feel like we can make it to nationals,” Patton said. “And for the men, my biggest hope and their goal is to make it to regionals (in Bellingham).”

It's just a matter of getting back to some business – whether running or coaching.

“It's really an honor to be helping Erika and to be working with her and Doris (Heritage) and Karl (Lerum) and the other coaches,” Patton said. “I feel like I've known the athletes for a long time.

“It's quite exciting.”