Rosemary Longisa, Solmon Kipchoge Win Individual Titles, Guiding Washington State To Team Sweep At First Meet Held At Spokane's Newest Cross Country Course

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Luca Gillis photos

Rosemary Longisa, Solomon Kipchoge and the Washington State cross country teams proved to be too much to handle on Saturday at the West Coast Conference Cross Country Championship in Spokane, Wash., taking home wins in both the individual and team title races.

Longisa won the women's 6-kilometer race in 19 minutes, 35 seconds, and Kipchoge won the men's 8k in 22:32.6, combining to win by a total of 36.8 seconds at the first ever contested races held at The Course Spokane Valley.

The No. 22 Washington State women held off host and No. 26 Gonzaga by five points, 38-43. No. 11 Washington State men scored 26 points, beating Portland by 24 points.

Longisa put distance on her teammate Zenah Cheptoo and Gonzaga's Logan Hofstee with a kilometer remaining to finish ahead by 11.8 seconds for the win. Hofstee finished second in 19:46.8 while also distancing herself from Cheptoo, who finished third in 20:01.1.

Gonzaga's Jessica Frydenlund and Willow Collins finished fifth and seventh, respectively, before Washington State's Caroline Jepkorir and Nicole Bissell in eighth and ninth, respectively.

Gonzaga's Nina Yeats, 13th, and Alexi Fogo, 16th, finished ahead of Washington State's fifth runner in Kylah Madariaga, 17th, which didn't alter the scoring at the end.

Oregon State, third with 84 points, was led by Sage Brooks in 10th. 

Trailing teammate Evans Kurui for the first 2.5 kilometers, Kipchoge led the remaining 4.5 kilometers to complete a 25-second win. Kurui held on to second, running 22:57.6.

All five of Washington State's scorers finished within the top 10, with Josphat Meli in fifth, Kutoven Stevens in eighth and Vincent Koech in 10th.

Portland's Jonas Price finished third in 23:15.9, leading the Pilots to second with 50 points.

Gonzaga took third with 58 points. Logan Schwartz was the top finisher in fourth.