Kithuka Named Big 12 Athlete Of The Week
By: Britton Drown
Updated: February 13, 2013
Texas
Tech senior distance runner Kennedy Kithuka has
officially been tabbed as the Big 12 Track and Field Male Athlete of the Week as announced by the Conference Wednesday.
The Thika, Kenya native has now earned
the recognition in back-to-back weeks, and is the first men's athlete in school history to do so.
At
the 2013 Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville,
Ark. this weekend, Kithuka broke his third school record of the 2013
indoor season running a time of 13:26.65 in the 5,000-meter run to
finish first overall by a full minute. He took the national lead in the
event by 12 seconds with the performance, and remained
undefeated during his Red Raider career in both track and cross country.
The
2012 NCAA Cross Country Champion also
anchored the Red Raider distance medley relay team to its second school
record performance this season as the squad finished first overall at
the meet with a time of 9:40.71. Kithuka ran an even four-minute mile as
the anchor leg as the Red Raider DMR remained
undefeated and moved to No. 8 in the nation with the time.
The
Texas Tech track and field program
currently has seven athletes and two relay squads ranked in the Top-20
of the national indoor performance list. The program now has its sights
set on the 2013 Big 12 Indoor Championships scheduled for Feb. 22-23 in
Ames, Iowa.
