SAN BRUNO, Calif. – West Coast Conference Individual Champion Solomon Kipchoge of Washington State was named the 2025 West Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year, while Washington State's Wayne Phipps won West Coast Conference Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
 
The Conference recognizes the Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year and Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in a vote of each of the Conference’s head coaches at the conclusion of the NCAA cross country season for all programs.
 
Phipps claimed West Coast Conference Men's Country Coach of the Year for the first time in the two years the Cougars have been part of the Conference. Through his guidance, Washington State won the West Coast Conference Championship last month en route to a third-place finish at the NCAA West Regionals and helped the Cougars earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Championships. The race saw WSU earn two men's All-America finishes with Solomon Kipchoge and Evans Kurui at the 10k National Championship in the program's first time competing as a team in the championships since 2016. 

Kipchoge collected the West Coast Conference Individual Championship by 25 seconds and collected the course records on his way to also winning at the NCAA West Regional by nearly 30 seconds and garnering the course record in Sacremento, as well. He earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championships after finishing third overall in the men's 10k and only seven seconds behind the first-place finisher. Kipchoge finished the 10k in a personal-best time of 19:41.5. 

Kipchoge also garnered all-conference first team accolades at the West Coast Conference Championshps while earning West Coast Conference Men's Cross County Runner of the Week honors twice.

2025 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY AWARDS

COACH OF THE YEAR
Wayne Phipps	Washington State

 

RUNNER OF THE YEAR
Solomon Kipchoge	Washington State	So.