Oregon’s Edward Cheserek has been named Cross Country National Athlete of the Year for NCAA Division I by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), it was announced Tuesday morning.
Cheserek captured the NCAA title last weekend in Terre Haute, Indiana with a time of 30:19.4 for 10,000 meters.
He is just the third runner to win the award in back-t0-back years and the first in Oregon history, since the award was created in 1994.
NCAA Div I individual champions include Cheserek on the men’s side and Kate Avery of Iona on the women’s side. 
Mark Wetmore (Colorado) and Walt Drenth (Michigan State) were named Bill Dellinger National Men’s Coach of the Year and the Peter Tegen National Women’s Coach of the Year, respectively. They both led their teams to team titles in Terra Haute.
Last year’s men’s winner was Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech.
Cheserek only lost once during the 2014 season to Stanford’s Maksim Korolev at the West Regional. He took the top spot at the Battle of Beantown, Pre-Nationals, and the Pac-12 championship.
He is the first Duck to win back-to-back cross country national titles since Steve Prefontaine and first runner ever to start his collegiate career with two titles since Henry Rono.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne