Aliphine Tuliamuk came to Wichita State to run and study nursing in 2011. Now she is an Olympian, continuing a path that included 13 NCAA All-American honors, United States citizenship and a move to running marathons.
On Saturday, she won 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials with a time of two hours, 27 minutes, 23 seconds in Atlanta. Former Shocker Kellyn Taylor finished eighth with a time of 2:29:55. The top three finishers make the Olympic team.
Tuliamuk will run in the Tokyo Olympics in July and become the second former Shocker female track and field athlete to compete in the Olympics, the first for Team USA.
In 2016, she became an American citizen.
"Making the Olympic team will be my way of showing my gratitude to this beautiful nation that has given me so much," she said on NBC after the race. "It's given me opportunities to help my family. This is just a big day for me and I am so grateful to have won the Trials."
Tuliamuk, from Kenya, transferred to Wichita State from Iowa State in 2011, in part because of Wichita State's nursing program. She won NCAA All-American honors 13 times in track and cross country, highlighted by finishing second in the 10,000 meters in the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
She holds Wichita State records in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 and the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000.
Latvian long jumper Ineta Radevica, who spent one season at Wichita State before transferring to Nebraska, competed in the 2004 and 2012 Olympics.
