| RICHARDSON, Texas – Senior runner Mercy Rotich from the Eastern New Mexico women’s cross country team earned her third consecutive Lone Star Conference Female Runner of the Week Award as announced by the conference office on Thursday.
Rotich is coming off another stellar performance after placing third at the New Mexico Junior College Invite last Friday. Crossing the finish line in 18:25.77, she was the top finisher among all NCAA Division II competitors, beating out Amira Cunningham of Lubbock Christian by 24 seconds. It was the second time this season and the fifth time in her Greyhounds career that Rotich placed in the top three of any meet. The last top three finish came in the Texas Tech Open on Sept. 14 when she came in second. Rotich has made her mark in the ENMU record books this season as she currently holds three of the top six 5k school records, which were set in all three of this season’s races. Rotich initially broke the record in the Texas Tech Open when she crossed the finish line in 18:04.70 and then broke it again in the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival with a time of 17:37.70. In this past week’s meet, Rotich’s mark ranks sixth all-time in the school record book, ranking just milliseconds behind Klaudia Szych’s fifth-best mark of 18:25.43 that was set at the 2015 Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival. The Eastern New Mexico cross country team will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 20 as the Hounds will travel to Canyon, Texas to compete in the Lone Star Conference Preview hosted by West Texas A&M at The Range. The meet is slated for a 9 a.m. start. |
