Track & Field  Ryan Shumaker

Moment number four on our “Top Ten Moments of 2019-20” series featured one of Eastern New Mexico’s all-time best runners recording record marks as Mercy Rotich captured the gold medal in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races at the 2020 Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 21-22.

The 2019-20 Female Greatest Greyhound Award winner posted times of 10:12.25 in the 3,000 meter race and 17:16.52 in the 5,000 meter race to secure 20 points for the team throughout the meet, resulting in an All-Lone Star Conference First Team selection. That mark of 17:16.52 in the 5,000 meter race broke both the Lone Star Conference and Eastern New Mexico school record in the event.

Rotich provisionally qualified for the Division II Indoor National Track and Field Championships in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races and was named the February Athlete of the Month by the Eastern New Mexico athletic department as well as the school’s 41st Female Greatest Greyhound recipient. She finished in the top 10 of every race that she competed in throughout the 2020 season and combined her wins at the LSC Championships with a win in the 5,000 meter race at the Texas Tech Shootout on Feb. 14-15 for three total victories for the 2019-20 season.

The Eldorat, Kenya native still has the option to return for one more track season following the NCAA’s decision to provide a waiver for student-athletes following the cancellation of the 2020 season, but has already established herself as Eastern New Mexico’s best female distance runner in the history of the program. She holds the school record in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races on the track as well as the 5K and 6K records in cross country.

She became the first female Greyhound to win the individual title at the LSC Cross Country Championships in 2018, defeating the rest of the competition by more than a minute, and finished in sixth place at the 2016 Division II National Cross Country Championships after winning the South Central Region Championship as an individual. Rotich was named the Runner of the Year in the South Central Region for that performance and earned All-American honors as one the nation’s top distance athletes.

Her performance at the LSC Indoor Championships this spring was a moment to remember for Greyhound Nation as Rotich continued to prove herself as one of the top distance runners in the Lone Star Conference and in all of Division II.

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