Former NCAA champion runner gets prison for fatal crash

ANN ARBOR (AP) — A former NCAA champion runner was sentenced last week to at least 40 months in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a woman in southeastern Michigan.

Boaz Kisang Cheboiywo pleaded no contest in June to causing a death while operating a vehicle while drunk.

The 42-year-old native of Kenya was involved in a multi-vehicle crash in April in Ypsilanti Township, 40 miles west of Detroit. Christen Knight, 38, of Canton was killed, MLive.com reported.

“The one person who always made me feel better is gone. I’ll never feel OK," husband Michael Knight said in court. "You won’t be forgiven by me. You won’t get that. Hopefully you can forgive yourself because I won’t.”

Cheboiywo had a blood-alcohol level of 0.26, far above the legal limit for driving, investigators said.

He won NCAA championships in cross country and 10,000 meters in 2001 and 2002 and is a member of the Eastern Michigan University Athletic Hall of Fame.

“I am devastated by my actions. My lack of judgment cost her life," Cheboiywo said.