Caren Kipsirat has been named the Big West Women's Athlete of the Week for the first week of the cross country season, according to a league press release published September 8.
The Utah Valley University freshman runner, a native of Iten, Kenya, earned the distinction following her performance at the UVU Invitational on Friday, Sept. 4.
During the UVU Invitational, Kipsirat finished in second place, trailing only Jane Hedengren of BYU. Kipsirat maintained a 5:14 mile pace to post a time of 15:41.42.
Kipsirat's time was 49 seconds faster than the time posted by All-American Morgan Nokes on the same course during the previous season. Kipsirat ran stride for stride with Hedengren over the first mile of the race before Hedengren pulled away during the second mile.
Utah Valley is scheduled to compete again this Friday at Scera Park on the same course and distance used in the previous meet. The women's race was scheduled for 10 a.m. MT, followed by the men's race at 10:30 a.m. MT. Live results for the event are available at SportTrax.com.
