WSU's Longisa and Kipchoge sweep USTFCCCA D-1 national athlete of the week honors...
NEW ORLEANS--After their wins at last week's Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri, Washington State's Rosemary Longisa (WSU Athletics photo) and Solomon Kipchoge were named as the USTFCCCA's Division I National Athletes of the Week.
Longisa, a native of Eldoret, Kenya, fended off a strong charge by Tennessee’s Mary Ogwoka to win the women’s 6k Gold at the Gans Creek Classic in a course-record 19:07.
Longisa remains undefeated this fall with three consecutive victories. While her margin was slimmer this time compared to the 40-second average of her first two wins, the result in Columbia, Missouri, showed she is ready to compete on the national stage.
Her selection marked the first time that a female athlete from WSU has been named national athlete of the week during the cross country season.
Meanwhile, Kipchoge, who is from Kapsabet, Kenya, earned his second career national athlete of the week honors after pulling away from Joash Ruto of Iowa State and Bernard Cheruiyot of Tulane over the last 800 meters to win the men's 8k at the Gans Creek Classic Gold race in 22:25.
Kipchoge was named a national athlete of the week last season when he ran at Texas Tech and won the Arturo Barrios Invitational in College Station, Texas on October 18th.
The USTFCCCA also released its weekly national Division I coaches poll Tuesday, with both Washington State and Washington men's and women's teams ranked in the top 30.
On the women's side, Washington, which last raced on September 2nd against SeattleU, dropped two spots from number 9 to 11, while the Cougars entered the top 30 for the first time this season, coming in at number 27 after their ninth place finish at Gans Creek.
The nation's top five women's teams are in order: BYU, NC State, Florida, Oregon, and New Mexico.
Other teams from the Big Ten include number 15 Penn State, number 21 Wisconsin, number 22 Michigan State, number 26 Northwestern, and number 29 Missouri.
No other teams from the West Coast Conference appear in the national top 30, after Gonzaga, which was idle last week dropped out, after being ranked number 23 last week.
In the men's national poll, both Washington State and Washington lost ground.
The Cougars, who had an opportunity to move up in the national poll, dropped to number 23 after they finished 15th at Gans Creek. Their chances of moving up were hurt after team leader Evans Kurui dropped out of the race after 5k.
Washington, which has been idle since September 2nd, dropped two spots to number 24 in this week's poll.
The men's national top five are in order: Iowa State, Oklahoma State, New Mexico, Virginia, and Colorado.
Teams from the Big Ten in the national top 30 include number 7 Wisconsin, number 12 Oregon, and number 17 Michigan State.
WSU is the only team from the West Coast Conference in the national top 30.
Washington races this Friday in Chicago at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational, along with the Gonzaga women's team.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information office of Washington State contributed to this report.
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