NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk State freshman Clinton Kipruto has been named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week for the second straight week, the conference office announced Wednesday.
Kipruto (Fr., Kapsabet, Kenya) claimed the individual title at the Virginia Invitational on Friday, winning the 6,000-meter race at Panorama Farms in 17 minutes, 39.0 seconds, a 4:44.0 mile average, in a field that included three ACC programs.
The win came in a meet won on the team side by North Carolina, which scored 21 points ahead of William & Mary (73) and host Virginia (80). Virginia's top finisher, Luke Hnatt, was 10th overall in 18:03.4, more than 24 seconds behind Kipruto. Howard and Johns Hopkins rounded out the six-team men's field. Norfolk State finished fourth with 93 points.
It was Kipruto's second victory in as many collegiate starts. He opened the season Sept. 5 with a wire-to-wire win at the Spider Alumni Open, hosted by Richmond at Pole Green Park, taking the 6K in 18:05.5 and leading head coach Kenneth Giles' Spartans to third out of 14 teams. That performance earned him his first MEAC weekly honor on Sept. 9.
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 travel to Bethlehem, Pa., for the Paul Short Run on Friday, Oct. 2, hosted by Lehigh. The MEAC Championships follow Oct. 30 in Cary, N.C.
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