Galen Rupp (2019) - Hall of Fame - University of Oregon Athletics

Galen Rupp

Induction:
2019
Class:
2009

The greatest American distance runner of his generation, Galen Rupp became the first person ever to win six NCAA distance races in the same academic year when he captured the 2008 NCAA Cross Country crown, won three titles at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships (3,000 meters, 5,000 meters and the distance medley relay) and claimed the 2009 NCAA Outdoor 5,000- and 10,000-meter championships. The list of honors for the school-record 14-time All-American is extensive: 2009 Bowerman Award winner, 2009 NCAA Division I Academic All-American of the Year, 2009 USTFCCCA national track indoor and outdoor athlete of the year, 2009 Pac-10 track athlete of the year, and 2006 and 2008 Pac-10 cross country athlete of year merely scratch the surface. Rupp anchored Oregon to three NCAA national titles, 2007 and 2008 Cross Country and 2009 Indoor Track and Field. His senior season remains one of the greatest individual performances in the history of collegiate running. After finishing as the national runner-up the year before, Rupp became just the third Duck to win the NCAA individual cross country title with his victory in the fall of 2008, joining Oregon legends Steve Prefontaine and Alberto Salazar. On the track, his remarkable three-win performance keyed Oregon's first-ever indoor national title. And he capped the year by pulling off the difficult individual double-double in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the outdoor championships. He overcame near-disaster in the 10K as he was stepped on early in the race and had to stop to put his shoe back on. In spite of the setback, he came back to win the event by three seconds. The five-time Pac-10 champion graduated as the American collegiate 10,000-meter record holder (27:33.48), as well as Oregon’s outdoor 10,000 meter and indoor 3,000- and 5,000-meter record holder. He also qualified for the Olympics as a collegian, finishing second in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials to earn a spot in the Beijing Games. The three-time Olympian (2008 Beijing, 2012 London, 2016 Rio de Janeiro) won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters in London and the bronze medal in the marathon in Rio. Rupp’s excellence extended to the classroom as well, where he became the first collegiate track and field student-athlete to be named the NCAA Division I Academic All-American of the Year, an award that spans every sport sponsored by the NCAA and given annually to just one student-athlete. Rupp was a three-time academic All-American and a six-time Pac-10 all-academic selection. Fittingly, in his final race in an Oregon singlet, the Portland, Ore., native won the 10,000 meters at the 2009 USATF Championships at Historic Hayward Field.