STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford junior Ky Robinson and Cardinal men's distance coach Ricardo Santos earned regional outdoor track and field awards from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Thursday.
Robinson, the NCAA champion at 5,000 and 10,000 meters, was named West Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year. His coach, Santos, was named Men's Assistant Coach of the Year.
Robinson became the first to sweep the two long-distance events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2016 and was the first Stanford runner to do so since Brad Hauser in 2000. His winning times were 14:04.77 and 28:10.96. In both races, Robinson moved into the lead with just over 400 to go and unleashed strong final laps to win.
Robinson, now a nine-time All-American, ran a season-best 13:22.29 to win the 5,000 at the NCAA West Prelims, good for No. 4 in Stanford history. His season best in the 10,000 of 28:58.74 came at the Stanford Invitational and was the third-best collegiate time of the season. He showed his versatility by placing second at the Pac-12 Championships in 3:42.99.
Stanford finished third as a team at the NCAA Championships with Santos' athletes accounting for 31 of the Cardinal's 44 points. Besides Robinson's 20, Charles Hicks scored 11. Hicks was second in the 10,000 and sixth in the 5,000 two days later.
Hicks and Robinson ran the first- and third-fastest 10,000 times in the collegiate season, 27:57.47 and 27:58.74, both at the Stanford Invitational.
This is Santos' fourth year at Stanford and, including his days at Iona, he now has seven regional coach of the year awards.
