Longisa's legacy: She leaves WSU a national champion

Jun. 19—There are few better role models in track and field than Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon.

The 32-year-old women’s 1,500-meter and mile world record holder owns three Olympic gold medals and five World Championship golds.

So when Washington State sophomore Rosemary Longisa, who on Saturday won the women’s 1,500 national championship at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene, heard that Kipyegon would be in Eugene, Ore., last summer — she had to be there.

Twice before, Longisa said, she had come close to meeting her fellow Kenyan. This time, Longisa, with the help of her friend and former teammate Maya McCabe, made a sign that read “I came from Kenya to meet Faith and Athing (Mu-Nikolayev), from Rozzy Longisa, a future 800m/1500m star and big fan of you.”

The sign got the attention of one of Kipyegon’s associates on that July, 2025 day, Longisa said.

“She was glad to meet me. I was like, ‘This is unreal,'” said Longisa in an April interview with the Tribune. “It was the best moment of my life.”

Soon after meeting Longisa, Kipyegon broke her own world record in the 1,500 by 0.36 seconds — a feat Longisa witnessed.

A few days later, Kipyegon sent a direct message to Longisa on TikTok.

Longisa didn’t believe it at first, but Kipyegon told her that she was looking for Longisa after her race.

The world record holder wanted to give Longisa her record-setting uniform.

Kipyegon sent the uniform to Longisa via one of her teammates, who happened to be in Kenya at the time.

Longisa was blown away by Kipyegon’s kindness.

“I don’t take that for granted. It’s not easy to get in contact with these great people,” Longisa said. “And I think I just felt like maybe I am also a star. Like meeting a star — it’s so special to me. I just feel like I’m also a star.”

A star, she certainly is.

With Kipyegon’s kit in her possession, Longisa blazed to an outstanding 2025-26 cross country and track campaign, capped by her first national title.

The next week, she transferred to Iowa State, following her coach Laura Harmon, WSU’s women’s cross country coach and track and field assistant, who accepted similar roles in Ames.

She departs Pullman having already left an outstanding running legacy as one of college’s all-time fastest middle- and long-distance runners.

A national title

She took the lead and never gave it back.

Longisa gained an early foothold in the 1,500-meter final and sparked her kick around the 300-meter mark on Saturday, the hottest day of the multi-day NCAA Nationals.

Longisa’s lead was so staggering that she survived a late surge from South Carolina runner Salma Elbadra, who picked off every runner in front of her except for Longisa.

Clad in the crimson and gray, Longisa was a national champion at one of track and field’s most-storied venues.

The Eldoret, Kenya, native’s victory clocked in at 4 minutes and 12.10 seconds — nearly a full second in front of the runner-up — making her WSU’s first individual national champion since Jeshua Anderson’s men’s 400 hurdles crown in 2011 and the first Wazzu woman to win a national title since high jumper Whitney Evans in 2003.

The crowning moment of Longisa’s career so far capped not only a sensational sophomore season, but it also marked the close of her Cougar career.

A sensational sophomore season

Longisa has come a long way from the freshman who had reservations about her own sport.

“I didn’t have a positive attitude toward my running,” Longisa said.

Her coaches had to push her, Longisa said, more than she was willing to push herself.

The result was a slew of negative feelings about a sport, cross country, that may not have been her primary focus.

After conversations with Harmon, she came to a realization.

“‘I need to do this out of love and I need to enjoy running instead of being pushed to do it,'” Longisa said she told herself.

The shift was sensational. The WSU women’s cross country team won its first conference championship in program history. Then, Longisa broke onto the national scene with a runner-up finish at indoor nationals March 14 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Longisa’s 4:24.59-mile at January’s UW Invitational in Seattle was the third-best mark in NCAA history at the time. After a raucous season, it is now the sixth-best mark all-time.

Longisa broke a 15-year school record in the 800 at the Husky Classic in February, finishing with a time of 1:59.71.

Then came her eye-popping 4:02.55 time in the 1,500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif. — the second fastest in NCAA history and the 20th-best time in Kenyan history.

“We love our country so much,” Longisa said of Kenyans. “Sometimes we just run with the pride of representing your country.”

Harmon said that the idea that Longisa was not just running for herself, but also for her teammates and her country, helped her turn a mental corner this year.

“I think being a high-level runner is kind of mundane sometimes,” Harmon said. “It’s just like day in, day out, putting in the work and then the results sometimes don’t come immediately.”

Harmon said that last year, she was advocating for event organizers to give a freshman Longisa a chance to compete.

“This year, obviously, that’s not an issue now,” Harmon said.

Now, Harmon said, “the tables have turned.” Everyone wants Longisa to race at their event.

Longisa’s legacy

Longisa’s 2026 track and field season is certainly one of the finest individual campaigns in WSU history, among any sport.

And it came after the school cut its field events and scaled back sprints for a “distance-focused approach.”

WSU did not provide financial strain as a reason for the cut, instead stating that it gave the programs “the best opportunity to remain competitive at the conference and national levels.”

The byproduct of not competing in the majority of events, however, is that it makes team titles impossible for WSU.

Longisa seemed to be the blueprint for how WSU could still obtain national titles on the track.

The future of the program, however, will not include the Cougars’ reigning national champion or the coach who molded her.

“I didn’t realize the things that I can do, but it’s all just from changing and just taking this sport with love and a positive attitude,” Longisa said. “I wasn’t expecting that to happen so soon, like, this fast, and also I think I deserve it because I’ve been working so hard.”

While Longisa’s days of traversing the golden hills of the Palouse are done, her story is far from finished.

There’s a girl running in Kenya today. Maybe, someday, Longisa’s kit will mean something to her, too.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.

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