Dakarai “Dak” Kongela excelled as a 100-meter sprinter for George Fox, earning All-America honors with a sixth-place national finish in 2010 and an eighth-place performance in 2009. He was also a three-time All-Northwest Conference athlete (twice in 2009 and once in 2010), and, as of his Hall of Fame induction year of 2021, he remains No. 2 in the 100 meters in the school’s all-time record book (10.6 seconds).
It was what he did after graduating from George Fox, however, that earned him the most notoriety. As a member of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation team for eight seasons – as a competitor in the two-man and four-man bobsled and skeleton events – Kongela consistently helped his country place high in North American Cup and World Cup events.
His most successful campaign came in 2012-13, when, as a brakeman for Jake Peterson in the two-man, he earned silver and bronze medals in two different North American Cup competitions in Calgary, Alberta. That same year, as a pushman for Peterson in the four-man, Kongela helped the U.S. land seven top-six North American Cup finishes, including a gold medal in Calgary, a silver in Lake Placid, New York, and a fourth-place finish in a different Calgary competition.
Kongela continued to compete through the 2016-17 season, earning several top-10 finishes in both World Cup and North American Cup events. Among the highlights were bronze-medal performances in Whistler, British Columbia (two-man bobsled), and Park City, Utah (four-man bobsled) during the 2015-16 North American Cup season.
