SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – In his first season at the University of North Dakota, Patrick Kipkemboi has been dubbed a Summit League Cross Country Champion and NCAA Cross Country Championship Qualifier. On April 1 – no joke – Kipkemboi was named The Summit League's Cross Country Athlete of the Year. He is the first student-athlete in program history to earn the honor.

The sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya is also the first runner from a North Dakota institution to earn The Summit League's top-individual honor.

On March 5 at The Summit League Cross Country Championship, Kipkemboi was the only runner at the meet break 25 minutes in the 8K with his time of 24:57.40, over four seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. In addition to being the first UND student-athlete to win an individual title in its Division I era, Kipkemboi is the first runner on the men's side to win a conference championship since three-time North Central Conference Champion Arjan Gelling in 1969.

By virtue of his meet victory, Kipkemboi qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship in Stillwater, Okla., becoming the first member of the men's program to run at the championship since 1999 and the second to run at the Division I Championship, matching Gelling's feat in 1967. He finished 209th in the 10K race.

The sophomore is in his first season at UND after transferring from Lubbock Christian, where he was The Lone Star Conference's Freshman of the Year and NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship qualifier.

Kipkemboi and his teammates will return to action on the outdoor track this weekend when North Dakota competes at the NDSU Spring Classic on Friday, April 2. The Kenyan has yet to compete in an outdoor meet after the COVID-19 Pandemic canceled the 2020 outdoor season.