PULLMAN, Wash. (Sep. 15, 2025) – Washington State cross country sophomore Evans Kurui was named the Men's NCAA Division-I National Athlete of the Week, the USTFCCCA announced Monday. Kurui is the only athlete to ever win this award for Washington State cross country, winning the award in back-to-back seasons.

In his second race of the season, the Cougar Classic, Kurui set a course 8k record with a time of 22 minutes and 22.1 seconds, 20 seconds better than his record set a last year's meet. His time was 10 seconds faster than Solomon Kipchoge, 22:32.4, which also would have set a course record. In his young career at Washington State, Kurui has captured six individual race titles in nine career starts.

This is Kurui's second time winning the award, as the freshman he took home the title in similar fashion when he broke the course record for the first time at the 2024 Cougar Classic. Kurui won WCC Runner of the Week three times as a freshman to go alongside winning the WCC Men's Cross Country Co-Runner of the Year.

The Cougars will return to action September 26 for the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri.