IRVING, Texas – Three-time national champion Anthony Rotich was named the 2013-2014 Conference USA Male Athlete of the Year, as announced by C-USA CommissionerBritton Banowsky on Monday.
The All-American becomes the first C-USA student-athlete, male or female, to repeat as the C-USA Athlete of the Year. He earned back-to-back NCAA titles in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to claim the 2014 C-USA Track Athlete of the Year honor as a junior.
The C-USA champion finished in a time of 8:32.21 to beat the national competition. Earlier in the season, he posted a season-best time of 8:30.54 in the event at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.
Rotich was named the C-USA Track Performer of the Meet and was also the High-Point Scorer at the 2014 C-USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship with 30 points. He won gold in three men’s events – 1,500m run, 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m run – for the second year in a row to help the Miners finish second out of 12 conference teams.
The steeplechase national champion is also the NCAA indoor champion in the mile with a time of4:02.54. Rotich became the first man in Division I history to win both the indoor mile and the 3000m steeplechase in the same academic year. He has been a mainstay on the Bowerman Watch List with eight appearances during his career and is a semi-finalist.
The Kenyan native also dominated the cross country coursethis season. He captured his second consecutive gold medal at the 2013 C-USA Championship with a winning time of 24:31.57 in the 8K race. He also placed second in the 8K at Pre-Nationals (23:25.43/) and in the 10k at the NCAA Mountain Regionals (29:23.6). At the 2013 NCAA Championship he finished among the top 20. Additionally, Rotich earnedfour C-USA Athlete of the Week honors and picked up C-USA All-Academic Team merit.