Courtesy USTFCCCA

HANOVER, Ind. – Hamilton’s Peter Kosgei was named the men’s USTFCCCA Division III Cross Country Athlete of the Year following his individual championship performance on Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Championships in Hanover, Ind.

Kosgei, last year’s championship runner-up, won the meet by over ten seconds becoming the first men’s national cross country champion in Hamilton history. His time of 22 minutes, 22.03 seconds was a personal best for him at the eight-kilometer distance.

Kosgei has now won an impressive 19 of 20 races in his Hamilton career. His lone non-first place finish was at the NCAA meet in 2007. Kosgei has now earned his second straight men’s cross country All-American honor.

Kosgei finished first in all eight races for Hamilton this year, including the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional, the New England Small College Athletic Conference championship and the New York State Collegiate Track Conference championship; all of which were in November.