Kenyan student named USA Cross Country best athlete

By ERICK OCHIENG and Agencies

Kenya’s Edward Cheserek, representing University of Oregon, was named the US men’s College Cross Country athlete of the year in 2013.

According to www.voiceofsport.net and Iaaf.org, Cheserek was voted the best by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association at the National Athletes and Coaches of the Year for the NCAA Division I Cross Country season following the championships in Terre Haute, Indiana last weekend.

He takes over from his countryman Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Techical College. Abbey D’Agostino of Dartmouth was named the women’s best cross country runner of the year.

Cheserek did more than win a national championship, an impressive feat in its own right. In just his first NCAA championship race, the first-year man dethroned the undefeated defending national champion Kithuka, 24, from Thika, to become the first true freshman in his first year out of high school to claim the individual title since Indiana’s Bob Kennedy in 1988.

“Cheserek, 19, traversed the sloppy LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 29:41.1, 18 seconds ahead of Kithuka,” states the website www.ustfccca.org.

After Kithuka made a move to break free of his compatriot mid-way through the race and looked to be well on his way to a second consecutive title, Cheserek made a devastating move of his own in the final two kilometres to overtake and pull away for the win. Behind his effort, the Ducks finished fifth in the team race.

Cheserek avenged his loss to Kithuka earlier this season in a fourth-place finish at the Pre-National Invitational on the same course. He also won titles at the Pac-12 Championships and the West Region Championships, along with winning his collegiate debut at the Boston College Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown.

— eoyugi@standardmedia.co.ke