Chirchir Named C-USA Athlete of the Year

EL PASO – UTEP’s Justice Chirchir has been named Conference USA Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year announced league officials on Tuesday.

The Miners have collected five of the seven Male Athletes of the Year honors since joining the league in 2005. This marks Chirchir?s first Athlete of the Year honor.

Chirchir was the 2011 C-USA individual champion clocking in a time of 23:39 at the meet where the Miners captured second-place honors. The All-C-USA first teamer also earned USTFCCCA All-Mountain Region accolades after finishing 20th at the regional meet posting a time of 31:12.1. Chirchir had an identical placing at the Pre-National meet where he clocked a season-best time of 24:38. The junior from Eldoret, Kenya, finished in the top-25 in all seven meets and had four top-10 performances in 2011. Chirchir was named C-USA Athlete of the Week once this season.

SMU?s Silje Fjortoft was named C-USA Cross Country Female Athlete of the Year.

Source: UTEP Athletics