Senior distance runner Micah Chelimo became just the third student-athlete in 30 years to repeat as the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Bill MacKay Athlete of the Year when he received the 2013-14 award last April.
The Kapkoi, Kenya, native won the 3,000-meter race in a time of 8 minutes, 15.52 seconds at the 2014 NCAA Div. II Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championships, to go with a runner-up finish in the 5,000 meters (14:06.27). Those performances alone lifted the Seawolves to a 9th-place NCAA team finish and ran Chelimo’s total to four All-America honors in his two years of indoor eligibility.
Along with four awards each in cross country and outdoor track & field, Chelimo finished with the most career All-America honors of any male athlete in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history, and the second-most in UAA history, trailing only swimmer Jon Pauole (14, 1989-92). He joined Tobias Schwoerer (men’s Nordic skiing/cross country running, 2002 & ’03) as the only back-to-back winner of the MacKay AOY honor, and gymnast Teri Frankie (1986 & ’90) as a two-time recipient.
In addition to his heroics at nationals, Chelimo was voted the GNAC’s Male Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight season. He scored 26 points at the GNAC Championships to secure a runner-up finish for the Seawolves, recording wins in the 5,000 and 3,000, plus a third-place finish in the one-mile race. Earlier in the year, he also broke his own GNAC 5,000-meter record in 13:37.73.
