Aliphine Tuliamuk is part of the 2022 Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame induction class. The class will be inducted on Sat., Feb. 5.

When Aliphine Tuliamuk thinks about the early stages of her Olympic career, she thinks about training on dirt and gravel near Kechi, measuring distance by the sections of land and enjoying Kansas sunrises.
 
"Moving to Wichita State and training with the coaches there is really what helped build my career as a pro athlete," she said. "That's how I got to where I am today. Being at Wichita State, running on those country roads, doing a lot of miles . . . I used to run with the guys and the guys really pushed me."
 
Tuliamuk, a member of the 2022 class of the Wichita State Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, earned 11 NCAA All-American honors in track and field and cross country from 2011-13. She finished second in the 10,000 meters in the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships and fourth in the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
 
After Wichita State, she ran professionally and competed in the 2021 Summer Olympics marathon in Japan, where a hip injury forced her to quit around the 20-kilometer mark.
 
Tuliamuk transferred to Wichita State from Iowa State, already possessing All-American honors in cross country. As a Shocker, she continued her progress with training runs and improved eating habits and conditioning. Her work ethic and expectations led her to one of the school's greatest athletic careers.
 
In addition to the NCAA honors, she won 13 Missouri Valley Conference titles and was a part of four MVC track champions. She holds four school records and MVC records in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs.
 
"She was just an unbelievable grinder and held herself to an unbelievably high standard," said Steve Rainbolt, director of track and field and cross country. "She thought at a high level. She wanted us to help her achieve at a high level. When it came time to help the team, she was all in, 100 percent."
 
Distance coach Kirk Hunter sums up Tuliamuk's toughness with a day in Boston in 2012. She needed a good time to qualify for the NCAA Championships 3,000 meters, but an illness almost kept her from running. She ran and set a personal record to qualify.
 
"I always knew she was mentally tough," Hunter said. "I always knew she had a tremendous desire. That was probably the toughest thing I've ever seen any athlete ever do in terms of mental strength. I still don't know how she did it. At that point, I thought she could do anything in the world."
Tuliamuk, from Kenya, uses her stature to advocate for causes that are important to her. Over the summer, she fought to take her daughter, Zoe, to Japan with her so she could continue breastfeeding. When she earned U.S. citizenship in 2016, she talked about her pride in the United States and how much the country helped her life.

She is proud to inspire Black girls to see their future as a runner, a college athlete, an All-American or an Olympian. She said she regularly receives messages from girls expressing their gratitude for that example.

"I'm running for my daughter," she said. "Everything I do, I'm teaching her how to be a strong independent woman, how to overcome obstacles."