Sally Kipyego (born December 19, 1985 in
KapsowarKapsowar is a small town in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya. In 1994 Kapsowar became the headquarters of the Marakwet District. Prior to this, the Marakwet and Keiyo tribes were collectively grouped into the Elgeiyo-Markwet District...
,
Marakwet DistrictMarakwet District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kapsowar. The district has a population of 140.629 . Local people are predominantly of the Marakwet tribe....
,
KenyaThe Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia , Somalia , Tanzania , Uganda plus Lake Victoria , and Sudan . The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas...
) is a runner who competed as part of the
Texas Tech Red RaidersThe Texas Tech Red Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University . The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders; however, the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raiders" name. The university's athletic program fields teams in 17 varsity sports and 30 club sports...
cross country and track and field teams. She is the first Kenyan woman to win a
NCAA cross countryNational Collegiate Athletic Association team and individual champions for Women's Cross Country.-Division I:The Division I championship race has been run at different distances. From 1981 to 1999 the race was 5,000 metres, and from 2000 to the present the race has been 6,000 meters.-Division...
individual championship, the first woman to win three consecutive
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
Division I Cross Country titles, and the first runner to win three consecutive
Big 12 ConferenceThe Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...
cross country titles. She is tied with
Suzy Favor-HamiltonSuzy Favor-Hamilton was an American professional middle distance runner.-Biography:Suzy Favor-Hamilton was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin to Conrad and Rachel Favor. She began running at age nine, and then attended and competed at Stevens Point Area Senior High, graduating in 1986...
for the most individual championships in NCAA history.
Sally Kipyego (born December 19, 1985 in
KapsowarKapsowar is a small town in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya. In 1994 Kapsowar became the headquarters of the Marakwet District. Prior to this, the Marakwet and Keiyo tribes were collectively grouped into the Elgeiyo-Markwet District...
,
Marakwet DistrictMarakwet District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kapsowar. The district has a population of 140.629 . Local people are predominantly of the Marakwet tribe....
,
KenyaThe Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia , Somalia , Tanzania , Uganda plus Lake Victoria , and Sudan . The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas...
) is a runner who competed as part of the
Texas Tech Red RaidersThe Texas Tech Red Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University . The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders; however, the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raiders" name. The university's athletic program fields teams in 17 varsity sports and 30 club sports...
cross country and track and field teams. She is the first Kenyan woman to win a
NCAA cross countryNational Collegiate Athletic Association team and individual champions for Women's Cross Country.-Division I:The Division I championship race has been run at different distances. From 1981 to 1999 the race was 5,000 metres, and from 2000 to the present the race has been 6,000 meters.-Division...
individual championship, the first woman to win three consecutive
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
Division I Cross Country titles, and the first runner to win three consecutive
Big 12 ConferenceThe Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...
cross country titles. She is tied with
Suzy Favor-HamiltonSuzy Favor-Hamilton was an American professional middle distance runner.-Biography:Suzy Favor-Hamilton was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin to Conrad and Rachel Favor. She began running at age nine, and then attended and competed at Stevens Point Area Senior High, graduating in 1986...
for the most individual championships in NCAA history. Kipyego won more individual NCAA championships in 2 years than any other runner in NCAA history. Academically, Kipyego earned a nursing degree. She runs professionally on the International Association of Athletics Federations' ("IAAF") World Athletics Tour. She is sponsored by Nike, Inc.
Before 2007
Sally Kipyego's running career started in 2000 when she was 14. The following year, she represented Kenya as a junior at the
IAAF World Cross Country ChampionshipsIAAF World Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Held annually and organised by International Association of Athletics Federations , it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the International Cross Country Championships...
, finishing eighth. However, a stress fracture kept her off both the 2002 and 2003 teams before entering college in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
2007
After coming to America, Kipyego continued her running career, becoming the first Kenyan woman to win a
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
cross country individual championship. In December 2006, she was chosen as the top female college cross-country athlete in the United States. This honor made her the recipient of the 2007
Honda Sports AwardThe Honda Sports Award is an annual award given to the best collegiate female athlete in their respective sport. There are four nominees for each sport, and the winners of the Honda Award are automatically in the running for the Honda-Broderick Cup award....
and gave her an automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year award. Kipyego is also one of only seven women in NCAA history to win four individual track titles during a single season.
On November 19, 2007, Kipyego won her second consecutive cross country national championship. In doing so, she set a new
courseThe LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, in Terre Haute, Indiana was dedicated October 17, 1997. This course has the distinction of being one of the few purpose-built cross-country courses in the world. The facility is part of that comprise the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center just...
record, beating the previous one by 18 seconds.
2008
As the nation's top collegiate female cross country runner, Kipyego was selected to receive the 2008
Honda Sports AwardThe Honda Sports Award is an annual award given to the best collegiate female athlete in their respective sport. There are four nominees for each sport, and the winners of the Honda Award are automatically in the running for the Honda-Broderick Cup award....
.
On March 14, 2008, Kipyego won her sixth national title at the 2008 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 5000 m, again with a world-leading time. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Kipyego the USTFCCCA Division I Indoor Track & Field Women's Track Athlete of the Year for 2008. Later, the association also awarded Kipyego the Women’s Athlete of the Year honor for the 2008 outdoor season as well.
On June 13, 2008, Kipyego won her seventh national title at the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 5000 m, with an NCAA meet record time. She followed that performance with a second-place finish in the 1500 m on June 14, 2008. On November 1, 2008, Kipyego won the
Big 12The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...
Cross Country Championships with a time of 19:45, more than 50 seconds faster than second-place teammate Lillian Badaru. Her victory helped the Texas Tech women win their first conference championship. Kipyego became the first runner since the creation of the conference to win three consecutive conference titles.
2009
In 2009, Kipyego was awarded her third consecutive
Honda Sports AwardThe Honda Sports Award is an annual award given to the best collegiate female athlete in their respective sport. There are four nominees for each sport, and the winners of the Honda Award are automatically in the running for the Honda-Broderick Cup award....
. She was the first athlete to be honored three times with the program's cross-country award. Kipyego finished her college career at the 2009 Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. She earned her ninth individual title by winning the 5000 meter. This tied her with
Wisconsin'sThe Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball...
Suzy Favor-HamiltonSuzy Favor-Hamilton was an American professional middle distance runner.-Biography:Suzy Favor-Hamilton was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin to Conrad and Rachel Favor. She began running at age nine, and then attended and competed at Stevens Point Area Senior High, graduating in 1986...
for the most NCAA individual championships. It took Kipyego only two and a half years to accompish what Favor-Hamilton did in four. In her final collegiate race, the mile, three-tenths of a second separated Kipyego from winner Sarah Bowman of the
University of TennesseeThe Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mike Hamilton is the current Men's Athletic Director, and Joan Cronan is the current Women's Athletic Director...
.
National titles
| Year | Competition | Event | Result |
|---|
| 2006 |
Division I Cross Country Championships |
|
1st |
| 2007 |
Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships |
3000 m |
1st |
| 5000 m |
1st |
| Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships |
10000 m |
1st |
| 5000 m |
2nd |
| Division I Cross Country Championships |
|
1st |
| 2008 |
Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships |
5000 m |
1st |
| Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships |
5000 m |
1st |
| 1500 m |
2nd |
| Division I Cross Country Championships |
|
1st |
| 2009 |
Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships |
5000 m |
1st |
| Mile |
2nd |
Nursing
When Kipyego was four years old, her father died, leaving her mother alone to raise seven children. The family was poor and her mother was often sick. When Kipyego was eleven, her brother's friend suffered an injury in a bicycle accident. Kipyego ran seven miles to the nearest clinic but the doctor was intoxicated and kicked her out. These events gave Kipyego the desire to become a nurse so she could help provide better healthcare in her native country.
Kipyego first enrolled at
South Plains CollegeSouth Plains College is a community college located in Levelland, Texas. It operates satellite branches in Plainview and at the Reese Technology Center, formerly Reese Air Force Base, in Lubbock...
in
Levelland, TexasLevelland is a city in Hockley County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 12,866. It is the county seat of Hockley County. It is located on the Llano Estacado, west of Lubbock. Major industries include cotton farming and petroleum production...
. After transferring to
Texas TechTexas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public, coeducational, research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System...
, she applied to the
nursingNursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from birth to the end of life....
program in February 2007. Kipyego received an acceptance letter and began her first nursing class on July 5, 2007. Kipyego earned her nursing degree May 2009.
External links