PORTALES, N.M. – Senior Mercy Rotich from the Eastern New Mexico cross country team is ready to compete at the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships scheduled for 10:15 a.m. at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Competing in her second national championship event in her illustrious Greyhounds career, Rotich was selected to this year’s championship field after coming away with a 15th place finish at the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships held at Washington Park in Denver on Nov. 17. Due to placing in the top 25, Rotich became a two-time USTFCCCA All-South Central Region competitor after winning the regional championship during her 2016 campaign.
With that win, Rotich qualified for the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championships held in St. Leo, Fla. and earned All-American accolades after turning in a sixth place time of 20:36. The time shattered her own school 6k record of 21:47 that she previously set at the regional championships. Rotich became the first ever female Greyhounds runner to ever qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships since the inception of the program in 2002.
Competing in her final race as a Greyhound, Rotich has made enormous accomplishments in her two years of competition at Eastern New Mexico. On top of a regional championship in 2016, Rotich became the first female Greyhounds runner to ever win the Lone Star Conference Championship after finishing more than a minute ahead of her competition in Canyon, Texas on Nov. 3. The second of three wins in her ENMU career came two weeks prior at the LSC Preview, where she set the third-fastest 6k time in program history with a 21:48.65 and beat the next closest competitor by 1:34.75.
Rotich will be looking to add another accolade to a career that’s seen an All-American award, two All-Region honors, two All-Lone Star Conference honors, an LSC Championship, and an LSC Newcomer of the Year Award.
