STANFORD'S TWO-TIME NCAA distance champion Ky Robinson was named the Men's Outdoor National Track Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Tuesday.
Robinson, a rising senior and management science and engineering major, is the second Stanford runner to receive a national honor from the USTFCCCA this academic year, following Charles Hicks, who earned the award for men's cross country last fall. Both are coached by men's distance coach Ricardo Santos and J.J. Clark, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field and Cross Country.
However, Robinson is the first from Stanford to receive a national athlete of the year honor from the USTFCCCA in track and field.
At the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas, from July 7-10, Robinson swept the long-distance races, leading Hicks in a 1-2 Stanford finish in the 10,000 and following two days later with a victory in the 5,000.
It was the first time since Oregon's Ed Cheserek in 2016 since anyone had accomplished that double at NCAA's. Robinson was the second Stanford runner to do so, following Brad Hauser in 2000.
In the 10,000, Robinson ran his final 800 in 1:56.85, closing with a final lap of 54.19 in running 28:10.96.
In the 5,000, Robinson again pulled away with a final-lap kick, this time finishing in 55.54. Robinson, who finished in 14:04.77, joined Grant Fisher (2017) and Sean McGorty (2018) as Stanford 5,000 champs at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the past decade.
Robinson, Hicks, and sprinter Udodi Onwuzurike, a sophomore who won the 200, scored all 44 points for the Cardinal, which finished third as a team at the NCAA meet – Stanford's highest placing since 2000.
Robinson is now a nine-time All-American. He recently was named West Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA and received the Block 'S' Outstanding Junior award from the Stanford Athletics Board.
Robinson owns school records in the 5,000, steeplechase, and 3,000. His best 5,000 time of 13:11.53, achieved at the Colyear-Danville meet in December, is the fourth-fastest in collegiate indoor history and places him No. 12 on the all-time collegiate performers' list for all dates (including indoor and outdoors and non-collegiate meets).
The native of Brisbane, Australia, has represented his country at the World Track and Field Championships, World Cross Country Championships, and Commonwealth Games. He is a candidate to run for Australia at the World Track and Field Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from Aug. 19-27.