Alabama Cross Country Earns Trio of SEC Yearly Honors
11/22/2021 2:15:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
Mercy Chelangat was voted the SEC Female Runner of the Year for the second season in a row, while Eliud Kipsang and Victor Kiprop were named the male runner and freshman of the year, respectively
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A trio of Alabama student-athletes gave the Crimson Tide a near sweep of the Southeastern Conference's yearly cross country honors Monday, following a vote by the league's coaches.
Mercy Chelangat was voted the SEC Female Runner of the Year for the second season in a row, while Eliud Kipsang was named the SEC Male Runner of the Year and Victor Kiprop was tabbed the SEC Male Freshman of the Year.
Chelangat became the first Alabama woman to earn female runner of the year accolades last season and is now the first UA woman to earn the honor twice. She also won back-to-back individual SEC titles, won the 2021 NCAA South Regional Championships title and was second at the 2021 NCAA Championships on Saturday after winning the national title last season.
Earlier in the fall, Chelangat was named the SEC Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Kipsang earned Alabama's eighth male runner of the year recognition and fourth since 2015, while Kiprop is the fourth member of the UA men's team to be named the freshman of the year. Kipsang and Kiprop were the first UA duo to earn runner and freshman of the year in the same season since Andrew Kirwa (FOY) and Emmanuel Bor (ROY) managed the feat in 2007.
Kipsang won the 2021 SEC title, while both he and Kiprop were named All-SEC and NCAA All-South Region.
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