#4 | Male Athlete of 2015

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King Cheserek Maintains His Throne

They donÂ’t call him King Cheserek for nothing. OregonÂ’s distance machine managed to bring his NCAA Championship total to nine during the year of 2015, and he is only a junior. 

As the year unfolded, a big question that kept coming up was whether anyone could dethrone the king. The answer still remains a hard no as Cheserek managed to win nearly every championship race he entered, starting with the NCAA indoor mile. 

Coming into the championship, Montana StateÂ’s Cristian Soratos shocked track fans with a 3:55 solo effort which was the fastest mark heading into the meet. Cheserek held a personal best of 3:56. The much-anticipated championship race proved to live up to the hype as Cheserek battled his way to a victory over Soratos in a 3:57 winning time. He returned later in the day to claim a runner-up finish in the 3K to teammate Eric Jenkins. The performances completed a hard fought triple as the junior anchored the Oregon Ducks to a win in the distance medley relay the night before. 



The NCAA Outdoor Championships were just as exciting as Cheserek ran his way to two more victories in the 5K and 10K on his home track in Eugene. Cheserek and Jenkins went 1-2 in both races starting with the 10K performance where Cheserek won his second straight title in the distance. The 5K was just as exciting as Cheserek led his teammate Jenkins and Will Geoghegan to second and fourth-place finishes for the Ducks. 



Despite being challenged with a hard pace set by VillanovaÂ’s Patrick Tiernan, cross country was the same story as Cheserek blew by his competitor to take his third-straight NCAA XC title. 

The performance marked nine individual NCAA titles for the Oregon standout who ended the year with yet another prestigious Bowerman award nomination.