One of the most recognizable names in Midwest running, Boaz Cheboiywo is in his third year as an assistant coach with the Detroit Mercy men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams. His first year proved to be highly successful as he helped the men repeat as Horizon League champions and tutored a young women’s team to a number of improvements throughout the year.
Prior to his arrival in Detroit, he was an Assistant Personal Training Department Head at Life Time Fitness in Canton as well as a strength and conditioning intern at his alma mater Eastern Michigan.
Cheboiywo – a native of Tirap, Kenya – was a two-time NCAA cross country champion winning the titles in 2001 and 2002. He also won the NCAA outdoor 10,000-meters in 2002 and 2003. In 2001, was honored as the NCAA Cross Country Athlete of the Year and finished his career as a seven-time NCAA All-American and 10-time Mid-American Conference champion. He was also named MAC Most Valuable Performance in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track championships and helped the Eagles to a third place team finish in the 2002 NCAA cross country championships.
After graduating from EMU with a degree in education in 2003, he signed with Nike and ran professionally for 10 years. In his prime, he was featured in a Nike commercial for the 2008 Olympics with Nike sponsored athletes LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Roger Federer.
He was selected to represent Kenya in the 3,000m at the Indoor Track Championship in Budapest, Hungry, after posting the second-fastest time in the world behind legendary runner Haile Gebreselasie of Ethiopia. He also represented Kenya at the Penn Relays in 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the “USA vs. World Penn Relays”, and guided Kenya to victory in 2008 and finishing third in 2006 and 2007. He placed in the top eight in the 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m events at the Kenyan Olympic Trials in 2000, 2004, and 2008.
He then turned his attention to marathons and posted a 19th-place finish at the 2008 New York City Marathon, while also running in the Chicago Marathon.
He graduated from Eastern Michigan with a degree in Education in 2014 and earned his masters in Exercise Physiology in 2014. He also became a U.S. citizen in 2010.
