Lilian Koech was named this week’s C-USA Cross Country Female Athlete of the Week for her dominant performance last Friday at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.
Koech clinched first-place in the women’s gold race in a field of 222 runners. She ran a 5K time of 17:50.6 to seize the title. This was her third individual victory of the 2016 season.
The sophomore paved the way for the Miners who took third overall with a total of 178 points over 27 other teams. Koech kept her composure throughout the entire race to stay with the leading pack, to then burst to the leading position and surpass her competitors in the final stretch.
The Kenyan native averaged a 5:33.0 mile time to push her efforts to claim the crown.
This is the standout athlete’s second C-USA weekly honor of the season, and her third of her cross country career at UTEP.
