Sammy Kipkirui
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- Height:
- 5-6
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- Hometown:
- Kapsabet, Kenya
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- Year:
- So.
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- Previous School:
- Western Kentucky
Bio
2018: Was the team’s No. 1 runner in the first three meets of the season … claimed an individual victory with a four-mile time of 20:16.8 at the Golden Eagle Invitational on Sept. 8 … turned in the team’s fastest eight-kilometer time of the season and the eighth-fastest time in Tech history, 24:27.74, for second place overall at the Florida Mountain Dew Invitational on Sept. 22 … came in sixth at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic on Sept. 15, clocking an 8K time of 25:07.7 … ended the year with all five 8K times residing in the top 36 in the Tech record book … had four sub-25-minute 8K marks.
2017: Finished most races as TTU's No. 3 runner ... earned top ten finishes at the Golden Eagle Invitational on Sept. 2 and at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational on Sept. 23 ... clocked the No. 16 8K time in Tennessee Tech history at the Mountain Dew Invitational, a career-best 25:10.4 for sixth place ... recorded three other 8K marks that are among Tech's top 50.
Personal: Spent the 2016 season at Western Kentucky before transferring to Tech in 2017 ... native of Kapsabet, Kenya ... nursing major.
News mentions
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – In what has become almost a weekly occurrence this season, the 2018 Tennessee Tech cross country teams added more record book material at Friday morning’s NCAA South Region Championships. Purity Sanga re-established the program’s best individual finish, and the men’s team – led by Brannon Cheplak’s all-region performance – took seventh out of 24 teams, the best regional result in Wayne Angel’s tenure as head coach. Sanga’s six-kilometer time of 20-minutes, 43.0-seconds awarded her seventh place overall among 208 runners in the competition, and improved on the program’s top individual finish, which she set last year with an eighth-place result. Sanga, who continues to make her case as the best runner in Tech history for either gender, recorded her second all-region honor in as many seasons, and will also be headed to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year. Her qualification for the championship meet comes by virtue of being the No. 4 individual finisher not affiliated with a team that finished in the top two.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Following record-book performances at the OVC Championships, the Tennessee Tech cross country teams have spent the past week and a half recuperating and preparing to be at their best at the biggest meet of their season to date: the NCAA South Region Championships. The South regional races will be held Friday morning at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla., with the women’s six-kilometer competition kicking off the action at 7:30 a.m. CT. The men’s 10-kilometer run will follow, and is schedule for an 8:30 a.m. start.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Purity Sanga followed through on her billing as the top female runner in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, winning the individual league title on Saturday morning at the OVC Championships. The Tech men made their own statement in the second race of the event, taking a third-place team finish, the program’s best since 1967.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – An outstanding season for the Tennessee Tech cross country program has the potential to culminate in a storybook ending on Saturday morning when runners from all 12 Ohio Valley Conference institutions will meet in Cape Girardeau, Mo. to decide the league champions. For TTU, the OVC Championships will be the climax of meticulous preparation and five regular-season meets that have seen both the men’s and women’s teams progress tremendously.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The accomplishments continued to rise for the Tennessee Tech cross country teams with the conclusion of the Greater Louisville Classic Saturday, as the men’s team claimed its highest finish ever at the event and Purity Sanga broke the program record for the 5K for the third straight week.
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – For the second time in a cross country season that isn’t even a month old, Sammy Kipkirui and Purity Sanga have given the Tennessee Tech program a sweep of the Ohio Valley Conference Runner of the Week awards.
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – For the second time in a cross country season that isn’t even a month old, Sammy Kipkirui and Purity Sanga have given the Tennessee Tech program a sweep of the Ohio Valley Conference Runner of the Week awards.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Tennessee Tech cross country team produced another set of headlines at the 2018 Florida Mountain Dew Invitational, as Purity Sanga clocked the first sub-17-minute 5K time in Tech history, and the men’s team replicated its runner-up finish from a season ago. One week after etching her name into the women’s record book with the best 5K time in TTU history, sophomore Purity Sanga outdid herself this time, burning up the track on UF’s Mark Bostick Golf Course with a time of 16-minutes, 41.58-seconds for her second consecutive runner-up overall finish.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It’s been an eventful two weeks for Tennessee Tech cross country. Opening weekend brought a pair of individual race champions and OVC Runners of the Week in Sammy Kipkirui and Purity Sanga, as well as a women’s team victory. Week two at the Commodore Classic was even bigger, highlighted by Sanga’s new-school-record 5K and second consecutive Runner of the Week award from the conference, as well as a top-five finish for the men’s team and their subsequent No. 8 South Region ranking by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association.
NEW ORLEANS, La. – After an outstanding fourth-place showing at the Commodore Classic, the Tennessee Tech men’s cross country team caught the eyes of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, coming in at No. 8 in the South Region rankings released Monday.
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech cross country athletes won both of the Runner of the Week awards given out by the Ohio Valley Conference on Tuesday following Tech’s season-opening Golden Eagle Invitational Saturday.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – “Whose house is this!?” “TECH’S!” “Whose house is this!?” “TECH’S!” “Whose house is this!?” “TECH’S!” So went the chant led by coach Wayne Angel prior to the men’s four-mile cross country race on Saturday morning at the Putnam County Sports Complex. The idea, obviously, was that both the TTU men’s and women’s cross country teams were coming into the race intending to defend their home turf, and when the results came out, that’s exactly what they had done.