Co-ed relay adds intrigue to Word XC Championships

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The United States will aim to prove that it is a major player in global cross country running this weekend in Uganda at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. 

The ongoing dominance of Kenyan and Ethiopian teams is expected to be at the forefront of an event that is in the neighborhood of both countries. The event is Sunday in Kampala.

HOW TO WATCH 

The newest wrinkle to the World Cross Country Championships is a co-ed relay in which four runners (two men, two women) will run 2,000 meters apiece in any order that teams choose. The athletes will pass a wristband instead of a baton.

Paul Chelimo, the Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000 meters in 2016, is the headliner of the U.S. team and he will participate in the relay. He'll be joined by Marisa Howard, a former steeplechase All-American at Boise State, Eleanor Fulton, a former All-American miler at Washington, and Cory Leslie, an Ohio State grad who finished ninth in the Wanamaker Mile at the 110th NYRR Millrose Games in February.

That group faces a steep challenge against the lineups that have been presented for Kenya and Ethiopia. 

Former Olympic men's 1,500-meter champion Asbel Kiprop, who won the junior race for Kenya in 2007, will be part of a team that includes fellow Olympian Beatrice Chepkoech (fourth in the 2016 3,000 steeplechase), U20 Track and Field Championships finalist Winfred Nzisa Mbithe (fourth in the 1,500), and Bernard Kipkorir Koros. 

The Ethiopians will go with women's 1,500-meter world record holder Genzebe Dibaba, 2016 World Indoors men's 3,000-meter champion Yomif Kejelcha, Welde Tufa and Bone Cheluka. 

Kenya and Ethiopia have won all of the senior men's team titles since 1981 and those two are likely to extend their fierce rivalry in Uganda. Joshua Cheptegei gives the host country of Uganda a rooting interest in men's race as he tries to unseat Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor.

The U.S. is sending a team that includes four runners with African roots -- Sam Chelanga, Stanley Kebenei, Leonard Korir and Shadrack Kipchirchir, along with Trevor Dunbar and Scott Fauble. 

The women's team is led by U.S. Cross Country champion Aliphine Tuliamuk and includes Elaina Balouris, Stephanie Bruce, Sarah Pagano, Emily Pritt and Natosha Rogers. 

The U.S. U-20 men's team is comprised of Hamza Ali, Alec Haines, Isaac Harding, Gavin Parpart, Aidan Reed and Paul Roberts, who won the junior men's race at the USATF Championships.

For the U-20 women's race, the U.S. is represented by Madison Fruchey, Kristen Garcia, Michelle Magnani, Logan Morris, Megan Murray and Aubrey Roberts. Magnani, a freshman at Oklahoma State, won the junior women's race at the USATF Championships.

All of the teams besides the relay were determined by the athletes' placement Feb. 4 at the USATF Championships in Bend, Ore.