Sally Kipyego award received Honda Sports Award for Cross Country
2007
After coming to the United States, Kipyego continued her running career as part of the South Plains College Texans track and cross country team for three semesters before joining the Texas Tech Red Raiders cross country and track and field teams, becoming the first Kenyan woman to win an NCAA cross country individual championship. In December 2006, she was chosen as the top female college cross-country athlete in the United States. This honour made her the recipient of the 2007 Honda Sports Award and gave her an automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year award. Kipyego is also one of only seven women in NCAA history to win four individual track titles during a single season.In November Kipyego won her second consecutive cross country national championship. In doing so, she set a new course record, beating the previous one by 18 seconds.2008
As the nation's top collegiate female cross country runner, Kipyego was selected to receive the 2008 Honda Sports Award.On 14 March 2008, Kipyego won her sixth national title at the 2008 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 5000 m, again with a world-leading time. The US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Kipyego the USTFCCCA Division I Indoor Track & Field Women's Track Athlete of the Year for 2008. Later, the association also awarded Kipyego the Women's Athlete of the Year honour for the 2008 outdoor season as well.On 5 May 2008, Kipyego set the NCAA 10,000-meter record in a time of 31:25.45 at the Stanford invitational (Palo Alto, CA), besting the previous record held by Lisa Koll by over 45 seconds. The record stood for almost two years, when it was taken back by Koll on the very same track in 2010.
On 13 June 2008, Kipyego won her seventh national title at the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 5000 m, with an NCAA meet record time. She followed that performance with a second-place finish in the 1500 m on 14 June 2008. On 1 November 2008, Kipyego won the Big 12 Cross Country Championships with a time of 19:45, more than 50 seconds faster than second-place teammate Lillian Badaru. Her victory helped the Texas Tech women win their first conference championship. Kipyego became the first runner since the creation of the conference to win three consecutive conference titles.2009
In 2009, Kipyego was awarded her third consecutive Honda Sports Award. She was the first athlete to be honoured three times with the program's cross-country award. Kipyego finished her college career at the 2009 Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. She earned her ninth individual title by winning the 5000 meter. This tied her with Wisconsin's Suzy Favor-Hamilton for the most NCAA individual championships. It took Kipyego only two and a half years to accomplish what Favor-Hamilton did in four. In her final collegiate race, the mile, three-tenths of a second separated Kipyego from winner Sarah Bowman of the University of Tennessee.
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