Senior Mercy Rotich from the Eastern New Mexico cross country team took home another piece of hardware on Monday as she was selected the 2018 Lone Star Conference Women’s Runner of the Year.

Rotich was selected as the recipient of the award based on votes from the league’s head coaches. She completed a successful senior campaign that included winning the Lone Star Conference Championship, earning USTFCCCA All-South Central Region accolades and was the only LSC runner to qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships.

At the LSC Championships on Nov. 3 in Canyon, Texas, Rotich crossed the finish line in 21:54.20, beating the next closest competitor by more than a minute to become the first ever female conference champion in the history of the program. The win came just two weeks after her first victory of the season at the Lone Star Conference Preview when she turned in her fastest 6k time of the season at 21:48.65, the third-fastest 6k time in the ENMU record books.
Rotich followed it up with another strong performance at the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships held in Denver on Nov. 17, as she finished with a time of 22:18.70 to come away with 15th place and qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships for the second time in her career.

Rotich was one of the top competitors in the field at the NCAA Division II National Championships on Dec. 3 in Pittsburgh, placing 60th out of 264 runners competing in the event. She turned in a time of 23:58.8, which was only 1:51 off the championship pace.

Opening the 2017 campaign on a high note, Rotich took home a second place finish at the Texas Tech Open on Sept. 14 after the finish line in 18:04.70. The time broke Amber Saiz’s ENMU 5k record of 18:07.78 set at the 2015 Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival. Two weeks later, Rotich competed at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival as well and shattered her own school record when she finished the race in 17:37.70.

It was the second time in her illustrious career that Rotich was named the LSC Female Runner of the Year. She earned the 2016 accolade after becoming an All-American with a sixth place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships. Rotich won the NCAA South Central Regional Championship that year to become the first ever national championship qualifier since the start of the ENMU women’s cross country program in 2002.
Upon wrapping up her record-setting career, Rotich holds the six best 6k times and the top two 5k times in the Greyhound record books while going down as the most decorated female cross country record of all-time at Eastern New Mexico.

List of Accomplishments
USTFCCCA All-American (2016)
NCAA Division II South Central Region Champion (2016)
USTFCCCA All-South Central Region (2016, 2018)
Lone Star Conference Champion (2018)
Lone Star Conference Women’s Runner of the Year (2016, 2018)
All-Lone Star Conference (2016, 2018)
Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year (2016)
First female ENMU cross country runner to ever qualify for the NCAA National Championships
First female ENMU cross country runner to ever win the NCAA South Central Region Championship
First female ENMU cross country runner to ever win the Lone Star Conference Championship
ENMU 6k record time
ENMU 5k record time