Texas A&M-Commerce’s Nicodemus Rotich and West Texas A&M’s Florance Uwajeneza were named the Lone Star Conference Cross Country Runners of the Year on Tuesday, Nov. 10 following a vote of the league’s cross country head coaches.
 
        TAMUC’s Rotich earned LSC Men’s Runner of the Year recognition becoming the first Lion to win the league’s top cross country honor. Rotich also became the first men’s athlete in league history to claim both the runner of the year and freshman of the year award in the same season. The native of Eldoret, Kenya won the LSC individual title in 2020 finishing the 10-kilometer race in 24:51.00 while leading TAMUC to a fifth-place finish. The victory marked Rotich’s fourth of the season in his fourth race.
 
        Uwajeneza claimed the LSC Women’s Runner of the Year honor after winning the individual women’s title at the cross country championships on Oct. 31. Her time of 20:50.60 in the 6-kilometer race was nearly two minutes faster than the second-place finisher and was the quickest time in the LSC championship event since 2010. The St. Paul, Minn. native is the first Lady Buff to claim the runner of the year award since 2014 and the third since 2008 to earn the accolade.