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DES MOINES, Iowa – Junior Lydia Kosgei, the final Eastern Kentucky University student-athlete competing in 2010-11, will run in the women’s 5,000 meters on Friday night at 9:10 p.m. EST at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Drake Stadium, which hosts the Drake Relays each year, is the site of the three-day meet.

Kosgei qualified for the NCAA Championships with a time of 16:26.42 at the East Region Preliminary Championships on May 28, but her season-best time of 16:07.14, which she ran at the Penn Relays on April 28, ranks her 15th in the 24-runner field. The top 16 finishers earn All-American status.

The talent-laden race will feature a slew of conference champions, including Oregon’s Jordan Hasay (Pac-10), Tulsa’s Paula Whiting (C-USA), Wichita State’s Aliphine Tuliamuk (Missouri Valley), Michigan State’s Emily MacLeod (Big Ten), Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino (Ivy League), Richmond’s Amy Vanalstine (A-10) and Villanova’s Sheila Reid (Big East).

Kosgei redshirted the 2010 cross country season, but won the women’s mile at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships and then won the women’s 1,500 meters at the OVC Outdoor Championships. She was named the 2011 OVC Co-Indoor Female Track Athlete of the Year, along with teammate Kat Pagano.

The Eldoret, Kenya native, who came within seconds of breaking a 33-year old school record with her 16:07.14, will be the latest in a long line of EKU track and field runners to compete at the NCAA Championships. The last to do so was Joseph Maina in the men’s 5,000 meters in 2009.

Kosgei and Eastern Illinois sprinter Zye Boey (men’s 100 meters) are the only representatives from the Ohio Valley Conference at the NCAA Championships.