It’s Good To Be King: Cheserek Reigned At NCAAs

When Edward Cheserek unleashed his patented kick, very few could match him. 

That’s a big reason why he won 17 career NCAA titles between cross country and track & field. 

The first time Cheserek dropped the hammer at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships back in 2014, though, might have been his most ferocious. 

Competitors and fans, alike, already saw Cheserek’s talent on display at both the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships in November and the NCAA DI Indoor Championships in March. It was in cross country where Cheserek won the individual title by 18 seconds after gapping the field at the 8K mark. Indoors, he became just the second freshman male athlete to complete the indoor 3000-5000 double in meet history (David Kimani of South Alabama was first in 2000). 

Well, the 10,000-meter final in 2014 developed into a race in which Cheserek thrived as a collegian: methodical until the last lap, when whoever had the best kick would win (More often than not, that would be Cheserek, because – like we said before – very few could match him). 

A group of four, led by Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech, went through halfway in 14:07.0. The pace had been in the 67- to 68-second range in the first few miles, but slowed down into the 69- and 70-second realm from the 14th circuit of the Historic Hayward Field track to the penultimate lap. 

Cheserek bided his time and his initial surge at the bell dropped all but Shadrack Kipchirchir of Oklahoma State. Less than 200 meters later, Cheserek turned on the jets for the final time. Kipchirchir could only watch as the Oregon freshman pulled away on the Bowerman Curve en route to a 2.13-second victory in 28:30.18 (It was actually Cheserek’s largest margin of victory at the outdoor meet over the years. He won four more titles, completing the 5K-10K double twice).

Want to know how fast that last lap was for Cheserek? Try 53.17 seconds! That included a hand-timed 24.8 in the final 200 meters. All of that is unheard of speed at the end of a 10K.

Those 10 points – and the eight Cheserek earned from finishing runner-up in the 5000 a few days later with the second fastest time in meet history – went a long way in helping the Ducks capture their first team title since 1984. Oregon did it in style, too, putting up 88 points for a modern-day scoring record.