TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Three Alabama track and field distance runners kickstarted the 2023-24 indoor season Saturday at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center, as Hillary Cheruiyot and Hilda Olemomoi both shortened their own school records in the 3,000-and-5,000-meter runs, respectively.
Cheruiyot toed the line first for the Crimson Tide, as the Iten, Kenya, native followed his 2023 Cross Country All-South Region season with a seventh-place finish in the men’s 3,000-meter run. His 7:45.90 performance topped his school record by two minutes and 84 seconds.
A week after becoming one of two Alabama distance runners to be selected as a Honda Sport Award for Cross Country finalist, Hilda Olemomoi clocked a second-place, collegiate finish in the women’s 5,000-meter run. The Cross Country All-American opened her 2024 indoor campaign with a school-record performance of her own, crossing the line in 15:17.44 – 0.53 seconds faster than her initial mark set at the same meet, almost one year ago to the day (Dec. 2, 2022).
Before the day was done, 2023 Cross Country All-American Victor Kiprop also repped the crimson and white, racing in the men’s 5,000-meter run.
The Crimson Tide in Boston
- Hillary Cheruiyot opened Alabama’s indoor season with a seventh-place, school-record performance in the men’s 3,000-meter run, clocking 7:45.90
- Almost one year to the day, and at the same meet, Hilda Olemomoi shortened her 5,000-meter school record by 0.53 seconds to earn a second-place, collegiate finish (15:17.44)
- Olemomoi first broke the UA indoor record last season, Dec. 2, 2022
- Victor Kiprop closed the day of racing with a 66th-place finish in the men’s 5,000-meter run (13:53.94)
Up Next
- Following the BU Opener, Alabama will meet in-state rival Auburn in Birmingham, Ala., for the Harvey Glance Tide and Tigers Dual Meet, Jan. 11, to get the 2023-24 indoor season started in earnest
- The meet is named after the late Harvey Glance who passed away June 13, 2023
- A three-time Olympian and four-time NCAA champion as a student-athlete at Auburn (1976-79), Glance coached at Auburn from 1991-96, before joining the Crimson Tide program and leading Alabama from 1997 until his retirement in 2011
- Glance served as assistant coach for Team USA at the 2003 World Championships and coached the 2006 World Junior…
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