COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Caroline Jepleting of New Mexico Junior College has earned the NJCAA Leaders for Life Student-Athlete of the Week honor.

Jepleting is a team leader for both the cross country and track & field teams at New Mexico Junior College and is always referred to as encouraging and supportive.

Jepleting is from Kosirai, Kenya where she attended the Kapkenda Girls High School before becoming a student at NMJC.

She spends some of her free time volunteering at high school cross country meets and at a local nursing home as an assistant to the activities director.

Her long list of athletic achievements include: three-time Indoor National Champion in the Distance Medley Relay, Mile, and the 1,000 M; four-time Indoor All-American in the Distance Medley Relay, Mile, 1,000 M and 4x400 Relay; three time outdoor All-American in the 800, 1,500, and 5,000; and the 2009 Cross Country National Champion.

While her list of accomplishments athletically is outstanding, she also has strong discipline in the classroom. The Kenya native is a member of the NMJC Fall 2009 Presidents Honor Roll (4.0 GPA) and is on course to earn NJCAA Academic All-American honors.

Outside of being a dominant runner and a driven individual academically, Jepleting is also very passionate about her faith as she is an active member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

When her time is up at NMJC, she plans to continue running competitively at a four year university and pursue a nursing degree. Once she has accomplished these things, her next course of action will be to go back to her home country of Kenya and use her degree to help. 

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