WICHITA—Winny Koskei was named the American Athletic Conference's Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year for the second consecutive season, the conference office announced Tuesday.
 
"I think it's validation for her more than anything," said cross country coach Kirk Hunter. "She has had fabulous years in back-to-back years in a tremendous conference. I think it also shows people identify her as a great cross country athlete."
 
Koskei had another standout year for the Shockers filled with top performances on the national and conference stages.
 
The junior was the Shockers' best runner in every meet, and she finished 47th overall at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
 
With her appearance at Nationals, Koskei became the fourth Shocker to make multiple appearances at the meet and the first since Aliphine Tuliamuk in 2011-12. 
 
Koskei also joined Tuliamuk as the only Shocker women to have claimed multiple conference individual titles.
 
Koskei won the American conference title for the second consecutive year, dominating the rest of the field. She finished with a time of 20:15, a time that was 14 seconds ahead of second place (Rebekah Topham).
 
She finished in third overall on a tough course at the Midwest Regional. Koskei crossed the line behind only All-Americans Cailie Logue (Iowa State) and Taylor Somers (Oklahoma State).
 
The Shockers' star found success in the regular season as well.
 
At Pre-Nationals, Koskei ran what Coach Kirk Hunter called "probably her best race in her career here." Koskei finished seventh in a 200+ person field jam packed with ranked teams and All-Americans.
 
She came out of JK Gold as the individual champion, dethroning fellow All-American Rebekah Topham. She won the race with a time of 13:48.5. Her performance led the Shocker women to a team victory as well.
 
Koskei ran her season best in Oregon at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, which was a time of 20:14. She finished in 13th overall in what proved to be another challenging field.
 
"She has earned this award based on what she has done," Hunter said. "She shows her ability to be successful in her races. I'm proud of what she did the past two years, and we're looking forward to next year."