Leakey Kipkosgei, Alie (Fitzsimmons) Phillipson inducted into NE10 Hall of Fame

MANSFIELD, Massachusetts - Two American International College alumni have been named to the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame, as the conference office announced the selections of Leakey Kipkosgei '19, '21 and Alie (Fitzsimmons) Phillipson '14 on Wednesday, September 11 as part of the Class of 2024.

Click here for the full NE10 release.

Phillipson was among the most dominating soccer players in conference history. From her position at outside back for three seasons, she controlled the play on both ends of the pitch. In 2011, her first season with AIC, she garnered First-Team All-NE10 honors, and in 2012 helped lead the team to the NE10 Regular Season title with five goals, three of which went for game-winners. Her efforts earned her just the third NE10 Player of the Year nod in AIC's history and the first since fellow NE10 and AIC Hall of Famer Kristen (Patterson) Hutchison did so in 2000. It also led AIC to an NCAA Tournament berth. She additionally was named the NE10's Defensive Player of the Year and a Division II First-Team All-American by the then-National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA, now United Soccer Coaches).

That was just a warm up for her, however. In 2013 as a senior, she once again was the engine for the defense and offense. Helping to shut out the opposition a program-record 18 times, Phillipson led AIC to another NCAA Tournament berth. The Yellow Jackets shut down the University of Bridgeport in the East Region Semifinal, and then trekked to Albany, New York, where they shut out the favored College of Saint Rose to claim their first-ever East Region Championship. Phillipson and AIC were not done making history, blanking the Atlantic Region Champions from Slippery Rock University to secure a berth in the NCAA Division II Final Four. She repeated as NE10 Defensive Player of the Year and as an NSCAA All-American as well as a Daktronics All-American, NSCAA Scholar All-American, and CoSIDA Academic All-American. To cap it off, she won the 2014 President's Cup at AIC, given to the most outstanding athlete at the College.

Kipkosgei burst onto the scene for AIC as a runner-up in the Northeast-10 Conference and NCAA East Region Cross Country Championship in 2015, finishing 15th at the NCAA National Championship to earn the first of a College-record 15 All-American honors. In the winter of 2016, he became an NCAA National Champion by running the anchor leg of the distance medley relay, as well as finishing as an All-American in the 3000-meter run at the Indoor Championship and in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championship.

Kipkosgei continued to pile up conference, regional, and national accolades with the cross country and track and field program over the next five years, and his other crowning achievement came at the 2019 Outdoor Championship. There, Kipkosgei crusied to another national title, winning the 3000-meter steeplechase to become AIC's first-ever two-time national champion. He closed his career in 2021 with one more All-American finish in the event, his 15th. 

He also won both the President's Cup and the F.J. Maloney Award from AIC during his career in 2018 and 2019, respectively; the latter is given to the student-athlete with the most outstanding career over four years.

The induction marks Kipkosgei's second into the NE10 Hall of Fame; two years ago, the 2016 DMR squad was inducted as a group.