Sally Kipyego

Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego (born 19 December 1985) is a Kenyan-born American long- and middle-distance runner.

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 Championships, finishing eighth.

However, a stress fracture kept her off both the 2002 and 2003 teams before entering college in the United States.

Sally Kipyego is the first Texas Tech Big 12 XC Champ & only female to ever win 3 Big 12 Conference cross country titles (06, 07, 08).

After coming to the United States, Kipyego continued her running career as part of the South Plains College Texans track and cross country team for three semesters before joining the Texas Tech Red Raiders cross country and track and field teams, becoming the first Kenyan woman to win an NCAA cross country individual championship.

In December 2006, she was chosen as the top female college cross-country athlete in the United States.

This honour made her the recipient of the 2007 Honda Sports 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.

In November Kipyego won her second consecutive cross country national championship.

In doing so, she set a new course record, beating the previous one by 18 seconds.

As the nation's top collegiate female cross country runner, Kipyego was selected to receive the 2008 Honda Sports Award.

On 14 March 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 US 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 honour for the 2008 outdoor season as well.

On 5 May 2008, Kipyego set the NCAA 10,000-meter record in a time of 31:25.45 at the Stanford invitational (Palo Alto, CA), besting the previous record held by Lisa Koll by over 45 seconds.

On 13 June 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 14 June 2008.

On 1 November 2008, Kipyego won the Big 12 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.

In 2009, Kipyego was awarded her third consecutive Honda Sports Award.

She was the first athlete to be honoured 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's Suzy Favor-Hamilton for the most NCAA individual championships.

It took Kipyego only two and a half years to accomplish what Favor-Hamilton did in four.

The record stood for almost two years, when it was taken back by Koll on the very same track in 2010.

She was the silver medalist in the 10,000 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the silver medalist in the same race at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

She has a personal record of 30:38.35 minutes for that event and her 5000 metres best of 14:30.42 minutes makes her the second fastest Kenyan woman for the distance.

She competed as part of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cross country and track and field teams under coach Wes Kittley.

She became the first Kenyan woman to win an NCAA cross country individual championship, the first woman to win three consecutive NCAA Division I Cross Country titles, and the first runner to win three consecutive Big 12 Conference cross country titles.

She also won three straight NCAA Indoor titles over 5000 m and was a two-time NCAA Outdoor champion.

She is tied with Suzy Favor-Hamilton 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.

Born in Kapsowar, Marakwet District, Kipyego attended Kaptiony Primary School.

The school was demolished and, in January 2013, the newly constructed Shoe4Africa Sally Kipyego School replaced it.