UNC Asheville's Paul Kiprotich Named 2024 Big South Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – UNC Asheville freshman
Paul Kiprotich (Keringet, Nakuru, Kenya) has been named the 2024 Big South Conference Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year, it was announced today by the Conference office.
Kiprotich finished 43rd at the NCAA Southeast Regional with a personal-best time of 31:15.7 in the 10K run -- third-best all-time in program history. He was the Big South Freshman of the Year -- Asheville’s first-winner in 25 years -- as well as a First-Team All-Conference honoree after finishing third in the Big South Championship with a personal-best 8K time of 24:16.8, as he moved up from 11th into the third spot during the race’s later stages. Kiprotich was named Big South Freshman of the Week twice this past season, first for an 11th-place finish and 6K time of 18:20.5 in his collegiate debut at the Sept. 14 Furman Invitational, and for his third-place standing and previous 8K PR at the USC Upstate Invite on Oct. 29 with a time of 24:22.5 that broke the program freshman-record by 14 seconds.