UTEP’s Ruth Jerubet honored as the C-USA XC Female Athlete of the Year
DALLAS, Texas - UTEP’s Ruth Jerubet was named the Conference USA Cross Country Female Athlete of the Year as voted for by the league’s head coaches and announced by league officials on Tuesday.
“We’re all very happy and proud of Ruth being named the Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year,” UTEP Head Coach Paul Ereng said. “This is an indication of excellence in our women’s program. Ruth was determined to be exceptional throughout the season. Her commitment to work hard during the off season and during the season paid off. I am very proud of her.”
Jerubet is the first Miner to be honored with the award in four seasons and fourth overall in program history.
The sophomore sensation captured her first conference championship on Oct. 29 in Denton.
Jerubet was stellar on the course as she clocked in a 20:42.9 in the 6K and crossed the finish line first out of 78 competitors at TWU’s Pioneer Soccer Park.
It was the first individual conference title for the ladies since 2018.
The native of Kapsabet, Kenya, jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Charlotte’s Sophia Ritter (21:18.03) and Lauren Johnston (21:21.6) placed second and third, respectively.
Jerubet earned her second consecutive All-C-USA first team honors after placing top five last season.
Jerubet joins Linda Cheruiyot (2018), Winny Koech (2016), and Risper Kimaiyo (2009, 2010, 2012) as the program’s other conference athletes of the year since joining C-USA in 2005.
Jerubet opened her extraordinary season with a first-place finish in the 5K (17:40.8) at the Lori Fitzgerald in Las Cruces, N.M., while she placed third at the Texas Tech Open (21:42.4).
Jerubet clocked in a personal-best 20:09.3 and won the 6K event at the Dave Murray Invitational.
Jerubet concluded her successful campaign with an appearance at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Mountain Regionals and finished 46th (21:06.0 – 6k) out of 129 competitors on Nov. 11 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Following her appearance at Regionals, Jerubet got a head start on the 2023 indoor season as she clocked in a personal-best 16:55.47 in the 5000-meter event at the 2022 Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Dec. 3 in Boston, Mass. The indoor season resumes on Jan. 14 at the Texas Tech Corky Classic.
Jerubet also gets it done in the classroom as she’s maintained a 3.50 GPA in Industrial and Systems Engineering, and was named to the 2022 C-USA All-Academic team on Nov. 23.
