Washington State University Athletics

Joshua Kimeto arrived at Washington State University with solid credentials. As a member of the Kenyan National Team he was a two-time national cross country champion in his native country. In his first semester in Pullman, Kimeto won the 1975 Pacific-8 Conference Cross Country Championship, earning Pac-8 Runner of the Year honors as a freshman. His running style of looking at the ground during an entire race was soon rectified with glasses. The bespectacled Kimeto may have looked more like a scholar than a gutsy run-until-you-drop distance standout but his opponents soon learned the truth. Kimeto won back-to-back NCAA 5000m titles, winning the championships in 1976 and 1977. During his WSU career, Kimeto garnered eight All-America certificates. In 1976, Kimeto achieved collegiate records in the 2000m (5:03.7), 3000m (7:37.5), 2-mile (8:10.8), and 4000m (10:11.6). At the time of his Hall of Fame induction, Kimeto’s times remained second-best in the WSU 3000m records, sixth-best in the 5000m, and fourth-best in the 10,000m.