Rotich Concludes Historic Season at NCAA Cross Country Championships

Saturday, November 18

E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park, Louisville, KY

W: 9:45 a.m. / M: 10:45 a.m.

Tulane University

NCAA Championship

Rotich Concludes Historic Season at NCAA Cross Country Championships

Nov 18, 2017 | Cross Country

Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Junior Emmanuel Rotich's remarkable season came to end Saturday morning at the 2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Rotich finished 191st (31:30.47) in the men's 10k race.

Rotich sat in ninth place and 15th place through the first 2k and 4k of the race, respectively, before falling back.

"Unfortunately, early in the race, he felt some leg pain in his right hip flexor," Director of Cross Country änd Track & Field Eric Peterson said. "He didn't have any trouble getting to the front of the field and running aggressively early on, but it really bothered him as the race went and he started to fade. At one point in time, he even fell on the course and went down pretty hard. I'm proud of the fact that he got up and finished. It's been a great season with a very unfortunate ending to it. Things just did not go his way today."

Rotich's trip to the NCAA National Championships was the culmination of his spectacular season of running. Rotich punched his ticket to the National Championships by winning the South Central Regional Championships, where he repeated as winner by claiming first place in men's 10k with a time of 29:49.1. Rotich maintained a pace of 4:47 per mile, setting a new personal best and school record in the 10k and breaking the 10k course record at Texas A&M's Watts Cross Country Course in the process.

Prior to the championship, Rotich won five consecutive meets, including the South Central Regional (11/10 in College Station, Texas), The American Championships (10/28 in Philadelphia), the Pre-National Invitational (10/14 in Louisville, Ky.), the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, (9/29 in South Bend, Ind.) and the Temple Invitational (9/1 in Philadelphia). His gold medal-winning performance at the South Central Regional earned him the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) South Central Region Athlete of the Year award.

"He's going to take a short break and regroup," Peterson said. "He'll take some time off to assess how this season ended, and we'll do everything we can to correct that and not have it repeat itself in the future. Emmanuel has a very bright future and so many things to look forward to. While it's very disappointing, it's hopefully something we can all learn from and improve upon."

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