NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State freshman Clinton Kipruto has been named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday. It's his fourth weekly honor of the season.

Kipruto (Fr., Kapsabet, Kenya) finished fifth overall in a 14-team field Friday at the Panorama Farms Invitational, hosted by Virginia in Earlysville, Va. He covered the 8,000-meter course in 24:35.4 and was in the hunt for second place throughout, running second at the 5K mark in 15:12.3 before finishing 4.2 seconds behind runner-up Samuel Idiens of Virginia Tech.

Kipruto led the Spartans to a fourth-place team finish with 112 points, behind only Virginia Tech (31), host Virginia (51) and Wingate (75). Norfolk State was the top MEAC program in the field, finishing ahead of Delaware State (ninth) and Coppin State (14th). Junior Ian Kimutai backed Kipruto with a season-best 13th-place finish in 24:47.9.

The honor continues a strong debut season for Kipruto, who opened his collegiate career with back-to-back individual titles at the Spider Alumni Open and the Virginia Invitational, earning Runner of the Week recognition after each.

Norfolk State is chasing a seventh consecutive MEAC championship this fall, which would give the program the longest title streak in league history.

UP NEXT
The Spartans close the regular season and turn to championship racing at the MEAC Championships on Friday, Oct. 30, in Cary, N.C.

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