PULLMAN, Wash. -- Cougar distance standout CharLee Linton has joined the Washington State University track and field/cross country coaching staff as an assistant coach for the women's distance runners, Wayne Phipps, Director of Cross-Country/Track & Field, announced Thursday. Linton, 23, replaces Allix Potratz-Lee who left the program last month to pursue other interests after three seasons at WSU.
 
"We are very excited to hire CharLee," Phipps said. "As a student-athlete at WSU she brought a level of dedication, commitment and passion that is rarely matched, and as a volunteer assistant coach for us last year, she brought that same level. CharLee impressed me right away as an assistant coach as she has a great coaching intuition and a level of understanding of the sport that belies her age. It was very important to maintain a continuity with our student-athletes and to hire someone who is 100 % dedicated to the student-athletes at WSU as well as being 100% committed to helping this program achieve success at the highest level. CharLee fits of all that perfectly: she understands our program and its philosophy and understands what it is to be a Coug."
 
Linton walked-on the WSU cross country and track teams in 2012 after a prep career at Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Wash. She earned a scholarship for her junior and senior years at WSU. Linton scored for the Cougars three consecutive years at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships as well as at the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships. On the track indoors, Linton ran the school record time of 16 minutes 34.89 seconds in the 5000 meters in 2016. Outdoors, Linton broke a 12-year-old school record in the 10,000 meters as a junior with her time of 34:03.69 at the 2015 Stanford Invitational. Her senior year Linton etched her name into the WSU all-time top ten lists in the 3000 meters with an indoor time of 9:35.49, eighth-best, and the 5000 meters with a time of 16:31.43, seventh-best. Linton scored at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships with seventh place finish in the 10k.
 
She graduated from WSU in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. After graduation, Linton remained in Pullman and served as a volunteer coach for the Cougars distance program and began working on a second degree in history.
 
Linton also volunteered as an elementary teacher assistant from 2010-14 and as an undergraduate at WSU was a member of Coug Pals who are student-athletes pen pals for elementary students in the Pullman schools. She completed Green Dot Bystander Training which brings awareness to campus violence in 2015.
 
She received the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) True Cougar Award at the 2016 Athletics Senior Recognition luncheon; an award presented to a male and female student-athlete who started their WSU careers as non-scholarship student-athletes and who, to their respective teams, define leadership, commitment to excellence, and Cougar Pride.
 
"I am beyond excited to join the staff as an assistant coach," Linton said. "It's really special for me because I'm passionate about Washington State University and I know what it means to be a part this team. To work closely with Coach Phipps means that I get to coach student-athletes through a program that I truly believe in and training that I know produces great results."