As head of the Arizona Wildcats cross country program, Jay Koloseus constantly reminds athletes that to succeed in distance running requires lots of perseverance.
“Everything with distance running is slow,” Koloseus said last week. “It’s a practice of patience.”
The irony then is that for Arizona cross country, the program’s ascent in the sport has been anything but slow the past few years.
The Arizona men were nationally ranked this month for the first time in 20 years, while the women’s team is anchored by one of the top young runners in collegiate distance running.
The Wildcats have impressed in every meet this fall and head into the postseason with more to prove.
Last Friday, Arizona competed at the Under Armor Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, an event that serves as a precursor to next month’s NCAA Championship, which will also be held in Terre Haute.
The Wildcats men finished sixth out of 44 schools, with two runners placing in the top 20 individually. On the women’s side, standout freshman Mercy Chepkemoi finished fifth overall, earning her Big 12 Runner of the Week honors.
While Arizona left points on the table on both the men’s and women’s sides, the race served as another yardstick in Arizona’s climb towards the top level of cross country.
“I came to Arizona to work with the best, that’s what (the athletic department) expects and that’s what I want to deliver,” Koloseus said.
A runner’s paradise
Koloseus arrived in Tucson in the summer of 2025 after leading the Drake track and field / cross country program. As one of head coach Andrew Dubs’ first hires, Koloseus says he was given the keys to the cross country program with the goal of growing Arizona’s place in the sport.
“When the opportunity presented itself to come to this climate, Arizona was always a place that I was interested in taking on,” Koloseus said. “And then remembering how good the team was when I myself was an athlete (at Syracuse), it was a no-brainer.”
Koloseus nevertheless inherited a program that was coming out of tough times. It’s been more than a decade since either Arizona team finished near the top of the conference standings (the Arizona women won the 2013 Pac-12 championship).
However, Arizona’s success is still recent enough where people remember it, Koloseus said.
“That’s a big, big deal,” Koloseus said. “It’s also easy to point out, ‘Hey, we’re talking about you wanting to live in a good climate. Well, we’re at elevation here. We have 12 months of sunshine. If you want to be good, let us give you all the tools, and Arizona’s brand recognition is good enough to get that across, even to overseas athletes as well as domestic athletes.”
Koloseus says he still has to pinch himself sometimes that he gets to ”wake up in paradise every day.“
“I was out for a run this morning, and I get to look at these mountains in perfect climate and know that I’m going to have this tomorrow and the next day,” he said.
In his first year on the job, Koloseus says he spent a lot of hours on the phone trying to convince recruits to consider running at Arizona. The aggressive recruiting approach panned out.
Arizona landed some of the top classes in the nation on both the men’s and women’s sides, Koloseus said.
“I think that’s why we saw such an increase in life rejuvenated to the program was just we were getting the best athletes, and that’s what we went for,“ Koloseus said.
The Kenyan connection
Arizona put extended effort into recruiting athletes from Kenya, which is known for producing many of the world’s top middle- and long-distance runners.
Kenyans Evans Tanui and Vincent Gwachi are consistently among Arizona’s top male runners. Tanui made waves last month finishing second overall at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational in Illinois with an 8K time of 22:41. Arizona won the team title behind a sixth place finish by Gwachi and a top-20 showing from Josphat Mali, another Kenyan who transferred from Washington State.
Kolosesus credits the Kenyan culture’s emphasis on simplicity as a reason why the country’s athletes are so successful at long distance running.
“Something I’ve learned from my Kenyan athletes, as well as going there, is that we don’t need to overcomplicate this thing,” Koloseus said. “Life is very, very simple when you get down to it, and it’s just making a decision as to what’s important and not worrying about the other things.”
Kenyan runners are good at acclimating to the desert heat, even if the climate back home tends to be more humid.
No Kenyan runner has adapted as quickly or as well as Chepkemoi. She has finished in the top five individually in each of Arizona’s three meets, including the first-place finish at Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. There she ran a time of 13:47.1 in the women’s 4K.
“She is the most talented athlete I have ever coached,” Koloseus said. “But talent doesn’t always mean success. It doesn’t always mean you win races ,because there’s a lot of life to get used to, especially when you come to college, especially when you come to college in a different country.
“But she has been seamless. She figured everything out very quickly, maybe even more quickly than I’m ready for.”
Chepkemoi is so far ahead of schedule that Koloseus finds it challenging to think of new ways to push her. One idea is for her to begin training with the men’s team.
As for what makes Chepkemoi so special as a runner, Koloseus points to incredible genetics, a clean diet and most importantly a clear mind.
“She’s very immensely disciplined in her mind and emotions, and because of that, she can focus just more on her craft,” Koloseus said.
Support from the top
For Arizona to attract and retain athletes of Chepkemoi’s caliber, it requires correct coaching as well as support from the wider athletic department, Koloseus says.
Koloseus credits athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois and her staff for helping “breathe life” into non-revenue programs like cross country.
“They just come in with a can-do attitude, and it’s infectious,” Koloseus said. “And when that’s propelling your department, you’re going to have success.
“I think they care a ton about (our program). They just know that Arizona should be a destination. Their refusal to settle for anything less for that has been inspiring.”
Arizona’s trip to Indiana last week for the Under Armor Pre-National Invitational is an example of that investment. Before this year, the program had never spent the time, money or resources to attend such a meet. The program’s year-to-year improvement was enough to justify Arizona’s place on the national stage.
Before the Wildcats return to Indiana for NCAAs, they’ll first compete at the Big 12 Championships, where they’ll take on some of the nation’s top programs. BYU, Colorado and Oklahoma State all have top 10 teams on both the men’s and women’s sides.
To appreciate how strong the conference is, Koloseus believes that the Arizona men on their best day are a top 10 team in the country. Yet at the Big 12 Championships, they’re staring at a fifth-place finish if things go right, he said.
“It’s been really cool to build this thing, but almost frustrating to do it in our conference where I think we could win a lot of the other major conferences,” Koloseus said.
Arizona will spend the next week preparing for the Big 12 Championship before heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the Oct. 31 meet. When the Wildcats line up at the starting line, the rest of the conference – and the country – will be on notice.