Solomon Kipchoge of Washington State rallies to finish third at NCAA D1 XC champs...
COLUMBIA, Missouri--Washington State's Solomon Kipchoge (photo courtesy NCAA), Evans Kurui, and Rosemary Longisa all earned All-America honors at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course Saturday, hosted by the University of Missouri.
WOMEN'S RECAP...
Longisa (Mike Scott photo), the West Coast Conference and NCAA West Regional champion, was part of a group of seventeen women that went through the first kilometer right at 3:00.
As the group went through the second kilometer in 6:08, the lead pack whittled down to nine, with a group of four chasing behind.
By the time they went through the halfway mark of the 6k race, Longisa, Alabama's defending champion Doris Lemngole, and BYU freshman Jane Hedengren began to separate themselves as the group of nine that were together at 2k broke to a group of three and a group of six.
Longisa began dropping back over the next kilometer, going to seventh with 2 kilometers to go. Over the last two kilometers, she lost 20 positions, ultimately finishing 27th in 19:15. Nonetheless, that's the highest finish by a Washington State women's runner in the Wayne Phipps era, supplanting Vallery Korir's 33rd place in 2017.
Lemngole repeated as the national champion, winning in 18:26, with Hedengren second in 18:39, and Hilda Olemomoi of Florida third in 18:47.
The Washington Huskies, who came into the race ranked 27th in the country, had a bounce back performance, finishing 19th with 472 points.
Mia Cochran led the way for Washington in 58th in 19:38. She was followed by Chloe Foerster in 65th in 19;41.
Abby DeVeau, who played on the UW club rugby team for three seasons before turning out for cross country and becoming the revelation of this season for the Dawgs, was 96th in 19:56. Seniors Samantha Tran and Maeve Stiles were 167th in 20:24, and 190th in 20:29 to close out the Husky scorers.
Washington finished with a 1-5 split of 51 seconds.
Under UW coach Maurica Powell, the Huskies have finished 20th or better in all eight of her seasons leading the Dawgs.
Behind Longisa for the number 25 Cougs were Zenah Cheptoo in 66th in 19:42, and Nicole Bissell in 192nd in 20:32.
Freshman Kylah Madariaga was 212th in 20:45, and Caroline Jepkorir, who for most of the season was WSU's third runner, was 231st in 20:59 to close out WSU's scorers.
The Cougars' 1-5 split came back to bite them, as they ran 1:44 between Longisa and Jepkorir. Washington State, which made their first team appearance at the NCAA championships since 1985, finished 27th with 602 points.
Among the individuals with Washington ties competing, Gonzaga's Logan Hofstee was 94th in 19:56. Her teammate Jessica Frydenlund finished 148th in 20:13, while Mercer Island HS grad Victoria Rodriguez, competing for Wake Forest, was 186th in 20:28.
North Carolina State, the nation's number one team, won the team title with 114 points, ahead of second ranked BYU's 130. Big Ten champion and sixth ranked Oregon finished third with 153, and fourth ranked New Mexico rounded out the podium in fourth with 216 points.
MEN'S RECAP
By the halfway mark of the 10k race, Kurui worked his way up to 11th, while Kipchoge was in 23rd, only two seconds off the lead.
At the 7k mark, Kipchoge and Kurui found themselves in the lead group of 15, as nobody wanted to take the lead, and were concerned with who was going to make the first move for home.
A few more runners attached themselves to the lead group which now approached 20 runners, turning it into a 2k race to the finish.
New Mexico's Habtom Samuel made the first move, opening up a 3-second lead on Wake Forest's Rocky Hansen, as Kipchoge moved to fifth, while Kurui dropped from sixth to 26th.
Over the last kilometer, Kipchoge moved up two places but ran out of real estate, as Samuel won the national title in 28:34, and Hansen was second in 28:38, three seconds ahead of Kipchoge in third.
Kurui picked up six places over the last kilometer to finish 17th in 28:52.
For the Cougars behind Kurui, Kutoven Stevens finished 168th in 30:09. Josphat Meli was 190th in 30:24, and Evan Bruce was 215th in 30:37. Washington State's 1-5 split on the day was 1:56, 32 seconds slower than last week's performance at regionals.
Kipchoge's third place finish at the NCAA championships ties for the highest placing since 1997 when Bernard Lagat placed third. Kipchoge and Kurui are the two highest placers at the NCAAs in the Wayne Phipps era, which began in 2014.
Yakima native Jonas Price of the University of Portland, the only individual competitor with Washington ties not on a complete team, finished 65th in 29:22.
Top ranked Oklahoma State, coached by Olympia native Dave Smith, won the national title with 57 points, with third ranked New Mexico finishing second with 82 points. Iowa State, ranked number two in the country entering the national championships, took third with 158, followed by fourth ranked Syracuse in fourth with 212 points.
VIKINGS FINISH NINTH & 18TH AT D2 CHAMPS...
In Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Western Washington men tied for their second-best performance at nationals in program history with a top-10 finish in ninth place at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships at the Wayne E. Dannehl National XC Course Saturday.
The Viking women placed in the top twenty, finishing 18th.
Western's men's squad came into Kenosha ranked 12th in the USTFCCCA Division II poll, and ran three spots better than their ranking, as they scored 373 points.
On a squad featuring just one senior, junior Jared Alderfer and sophomore Jonah Billings led the way finishing side-by-side over the 10k distance in 55th and 56th place, clocking 30:59 and 31:00. Sophomores George Fernandez and Sten Brakstad were 86th and 88th in 31:28 & 31:29, followed by fifth scorer senior Logan Werner in 141st place at 32:09.
Western's 1-5 split was 1:10.
Ramon Rodriguez, who competed last season for Central Washington, finished tenth for Tiffin, running 30:02.
Kidus Bergeshaw of Adams State pulled away over the final kilometer to win in 29:39.
Wingate's 62 points won the national title over Adams State's 71 points, with Colorado School of Mines third at 121, and Grand Valley State rounding out the podium in fourth with 122 points.
The number 18 ranked Vikings finished in the same spot they were ranked, placing 18th with a final team score of 470 points.
Ella Edens led the way for Western Washington, running the 6k course in 21:40 to finish 83rd.
Washington State transfer Sabrina Colbert was 101st in 21:50, followed by Emmy Kroontje in 118th in 22:03.
Jill Philbin was 119th in 22:03, and Alexis Parker closed the scoring for Western in 138th in 22:14. The Vikings ran a 1-5 split of 34 seconds.
Seattle Pacific's Maya Ewing, the GNAC individual champion, and the only Washington athlete not on a complete team racing, finished 127th in 22:07
Tristian Spence of Adams State won the national title in a time of 20:11
Number 1 ranked Grand Valley State won the team title with 65 points, four points better than Colorado School of Mines' 69. Wingate's 131 and Adams State's 168 points rounded out the women's podium.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the sports information offices of Gonzaga, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, University of Washington and Washington State, contributed to this report.
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