Washington State adds NCAA qualifier Wesley Kirui to its cross country roster...

While all the buzz on the west side of the Cascade Mountains has centered on the addition of All-Americans Katie Rainsberger, Lilli Burdon, Tanner Anderson and Mick Stanovsek to the University of Washington, cross-state rival Washington State adds a significant piece to its cross country roster this fall.

Wesley Kirui (left/photo courtesy Hampton University), who competed for Hampton University in Virginia as a freshman last spring, is listed on the team’s cross country roster.

As a freshman, Kirui, who hails from Nakuro, Kenya, won four events at the MEAC track & field championships in May, taking the 1500 (3:54.96), 5000 (15:17.82), 10000 (31:29.27), and the steeplechase (9:06.63), helping the Pirates to a third place finish in its conference championship, with Kirui accounting for 40 of its 131 team points.

Kirui qualified for the NCAA championships in the steeplechase, running a personal best of 8:45.73 at the NCAA East Preliminary round, then finished tenth in his semi at the NCAA championships in Eugene, clocking 8:57.56.

He joins Colton Johnsen, who transferred to WSU in January from Eastern Washington.

The Cougars return six runners from the squad that ran to a 24th place finish at the NCAA championships in Louisville last November.

According to his Hampton TFRRS profile, Kirui did not compete in cross country, so he has freshman eligibility for the Cougars in cross country and indoor track, and sophomore eligibility in outdoor track.

The Cougars open up the 2018 season with the WSU Alumni Open on Friday at the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax.