PULLMAN, Wash. (Sept. 30, 2025) – Washington State cross country freshman Rosemary Longisa and sophomore Solomon Kipchoge were named the Women’s and Men’s WCC Runners of the Week, respectively, the West Coast Conference announced Monday.
Longisa captured the Women’s Gold 6k title to help WSU to a ninth-place finish at the 2025 Gans Creek Classic Friday in Columbia, Mo., a meet that featured eight teams ranked in the Top 30 nationally. The Cougar sophomore ran a course-record time of 19 minutes, seven seconds, winning by 0.7 seconds over Tennessee’s Mary Ogwoka, marking the fastest time in NCAA Division I this season. Longisa led at the 3000m mark, dropped to fifth at 4k, then regained the lead at the 5k mark that she did not relinquish. The win marks Longisa’s second title and course record in as many events, winning the Cougar Classic two weeks ago. This is the freshman’s second WCC award in her early collegiate career.
Kipchoge captured his first victory as a Cougar after transferring from Texas Tech following the 2024 season. The sophomore blazed his way to victory in a course record and personal-best time of 22-minutes, 24.7 seconds, winning by eight seconds over Iowa State’s Joash Ruto to take the Men’s Gold 8k race. His time was the second-fastest in the NCAA this season. Kipchoge never was below the top 6 during the race, taking the lead at the 6000m mark and never relinquishing it, and his final 1000m split time of 2:46.2 was the fastest among the top 15 finishers. Kipchoge is the second Cougar men’s runner to capture WCC Runner of the Week honors this season after teammate Evans Kurui received the honor two weeks ago. This is the sophomore transfer’s first WCC award and will look to add many more in his collegiate career.
The Cougars are next in action Oct. 17 when they travel to Madison, Wisc. For the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
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