The NJCAA to the Next Level
Wesley Kiptoo and Zouhair Talbi are two of the biggest names that have recently transitioned from the Kansas Junior College system to an even bigger stage.
Wesley Kiptoo, Colby CC → Iowa State
Wesley Kiptoo, a national caliber distance runner from Marakwet, Kenya. Depending on how often you have the chance to watch Division I races, you may or may not be very familiar with him. He is fairly easy to point out in a pack due to the pair of black gloves that he wears on his hands. It doesn’t matter if it is warm and humid, or if it’s below freezing, they’ll be on. It also helps that he is typically at the front of the race, making it even easier to recognize.
Kiptoo started his collegiate running career at Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas. In his time at Colby CC, Kiptoo dropped some pretty blazing times in my opinion, with an absurd amount of range. Starting with a 4:04.62 indoor mile, and all the way up to a 13:43.29 5000m. He also produced a 7:51.9 in the 3000m, which is averaged out to 4:13 per mile. I don’t know about you, but to me that is insane to think about. Before he shifted to the Division I stage, Kiptoo captured the win at the 2019 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championship, where he ran 22:54.6 across 8000m to win by a minute and three seconds over runner-up Zouhair Talbi (don’t worry, we’ll get to him soon enough). Kiptoo also won the 5000m at the 2020 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. His outdoor season would end up being canceled due to Covid-19, but I’ve got a feeling he would have added to his résumé.
After choosing to take his talents to Ames, Iowa and to join the Cyclones, Kiptoo didn’t miss a beat. He won his first three races, including the Big 12 Championship at Rim Rock Farm, where he won the 8000m race in 22:35.4. The following 2020 Indoor season, Kiptoo won both the 3000m and the 5000m Big 12 titles, along with the 5000m at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships. Most people would take that win and relax for the rest of the weekend, but like Kiptoo and a number of athletes, they traveled and competed only days later in Stillwater, Oklahoma at the postponed 2020 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships. To give a little insight of his strategy, Kiptoo took the race out in 2:31.5 through 1000m and came through 3000m at 8:14.6. Kiptoo kept control of the majority of the race, but the last 2000m proved to be really tough, with Conner Mantz of Brigham Young University closing in a 3:00.6 and 2:57.8 for the last 2000m of the race, gapping both Kiptoo and Adriaan Wildschutt of Florida State by twenty-two and twenty-eight seconds. Kiptoo still finished in a very impressive 29:54.9 over 10,000m on a very challenging Oklahoma State course. I mean seriously though, a national championship on a Friday afternoon and a third place finish at the cross country national championships after two days of recovery? For Kiptoo and all of the athletes that took on that challenge, you all have the guts to do something that I would have never even considered.
In the following outdoor season, Kiptoo completed a rare triple at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where he won the 10,000m on a Friday, the 3000m steeplechase on Saturday, and the 5000m on Sunday. Kiptoo would go on to qualify in both the 10,000m and the 5000m for the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships by winning both at the West Preliminary Round. In the 10,000m, Kiptoo was not able to take home the win, finishing in 11th. Patrick Dever, a senior from England who represented the University of Tulsa won the race in 27:41.87. In the 5000m, Kiptoo finished in 13th, with Cooper Teare of the University of Oregon winning his first individual national championship in 13:12.27. So far, Kiptoo has only raced once this cross country season, where he finished 2nd at the Roy Griak Invitational to Conner Mantz in a kick-to-the-finish type of race.
Zouhair Talbi, NW Kansas Technical College → Oklahoma City
Zouhair Talbi has made a NAME for himself in the past calendar year. Talbi has transitioned exceptionally from the junior college system to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). IDK WHAT TO PUT HERE
Originally from Tighassaline in the Khénifra province of Morocco, Talbi started his collegiate running career as a Mustang at the Northwest Kansas Technical College. Talbi had a much shorter stint in the Kansas junior college system than Kiptoo, but he too saw some success. In his one season of cross country. Talbi won his debut race, and finished runner-up to Kiptoo in both the NJCAA Region VI XC Championships and the NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, running 24:09.2 and 23:57.6. In his only track season as a Mustang, Talbi also finished runner-up to Kiptoo in the 5000m at both the NJCAA Region VI meet and the NJCAA Indoor Championships.
After a ten month hiatus (according to TFFRS), Talbi made his NAIA debut in the DMR when he anchored Oklahoma City University to a win at the 2021 Friends University NAIA Mid-Season Invite. From there on out, Talbi won seven individual races and two relays. One of them was the NAIA National Cross Country Championship, where he won by twenty seconds over his teammate Shimales Abebe. One of his most impressive feats in his first year at OCU, was his 5000m and Distance Medley Relay double at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships. At 3:13:44 p.m. Talbi crossed the finish line to win the 5000m final, winning 13:44.13 to 14:37.08 over teammate Sair Salgado. The Men’s DMR started at 3:25 p.m., meaning he had less than twenty minutes to rest before he anchored his team with the 1600m leg. I remember watching the race this Spring, and I can’t remember the exact split, but he ran under 4:10 to lead the Stars to a thirteen second win over Westmont, 9:56.08 to 10:09.96. This crazy thing is that this isn’t even the most impressive thing he did last Spring, that happened in the outdoor season.
Flashback to a week before the start of the NAIA Indoor Championships in Austin, Texas. Talbi was entered in the 10,000m at the Trials of Miles meet,The Texas Qualifier. The field was supposed to have thirteen runners, including multiple professional runners, including some that have ran low 27’s. On what turned out to be a very hot and humid evening, only six runners would end up crossing the finish line. All by himself and taking down a field of elite men, would win the grueling race in 28:12, thirty-four seconds ahead of the next athlete.
Talbi kept the momentum going through the next season, the Spring Cross Country season. Due to Covid-19, the NAIA was running a good amount of their conference meets in the Spring, along with the national championships. In the midst of what was a crazy outdoor season, Talbi won the NAIA National Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On a relatively rainy, windy and chilly day, Talbi pulled away from his teammate Shimales Abebe, winning in 23:45.2, twenty seconds over the runner-up.
In the outdoor season, Talbi added a pretty huge accomplishment to his résumé when he etched the title “Olympian” into his legacy. The journey to what would have been his first Olympic birth started in February at the Texas Qualifier that we talked about earlier, and continued on to the Kansas City Qualifier that was hosted in Kansas at the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth. That was the first time I was able to watch Talbi instead of having to “race” him. From the get go, it Talbi’s race and field knew it. For the first part of the race it was Talbi and Sam Chelanga, but eventually Talbi put enough pressure on the pace to run on his own. Talbi ended up winning the race in 13:28.97, eight seconds in front of Chelanga. Yes, the 5000m was pretty incredible given the breezy racing conditions, but the most amazing feat of the outdoor season was when Talbi ran 27:20.62 to hit the Olympic standard. Thanks to the help of Talbi, Emmanuel Bor (27:22.80) and Joe Klecker (27:23.44), seven more runners were able to dip under the twenty-eight minute barrier.
During the coming months, Talbi would go on to qualify for the 5000m for Morocco as well, now having the chance to run both the 10,000m and the 5000m on the world’s biggest stage. Unfortunately, Talbi was told the day before the 10,000m final that he would not be allowed to race and represent the nation of Morocco. As a big fan of him, this was some pretty crappy news to wake up to and I can’t even begin to imagine how he felt when he was told. Below is the Instagram post he shared with the news, and below that is the full caption of the post.
I don’t know how to start this, but I have some unfortunate news to share. I know that a lot of you were excited for me to run in the Olympics - what would have been the biggest event of my life. Today I have been notified that I won’t be eligible to compete.
On May 14, I shocked myself and many others, running the Olympics standard in the 10k. An achievement that I am very proud of.
After this, the Moroccan federation contacted me, asking me to join their Olympic team ASAP. Upon my return to Morocco I had a meeting with the federation doctor in which he explained the Rules of Anti-doping obligations before the Olympics to me.
This rule states:
Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of- competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than 3 weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event. Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games.
Due to the fact that I was a student in USA, I had no notice out of competition tests from Moroccan Anti-Doping Organization. So the doctor contacted the Athletics integrity unit to explain my case and how I hadn’t even been in Morocco, making it impossible for me to receive those 3 tests 3 weeks apart. That same day the doctor got the response from the AIU that it was fine for me to simply do the three tests without the three week waiting periods. At this, I was ecstatic, knowing that all of my hard work was finally going to pay off.
After this, everything ran smoothly, I did three doping control , as I got my Accreditation, traveling to Tokyo both physically and mentally prepared to compete.
Then, the day before my race, I was informed that the Athletics integrity unit had changed their minds about my exception.
This means that I am disqualified from the race.
It’s difficult to put into words the emotions that I’m feeling right now. It’s like getting everything you’ve ever wanted taken away from you, just as it was right within your grasp.
To say the least I m overwhelmed, disappointed, and angry at the deliverance of this news.
What a terrible way to handle a situation @Moroccan Anti-Doping Organization. After telling a man that he gets to run in the Olympics and telling him that you’ll make an exception for him, just to go and let him know on the day before the race that he can’t. It just seems like it could have been avoided and that MADO could have handled everything much more professionally. I mean he was already in Tokyo for crying out loud. Regardless of what happened to Zouhair Talbi this past Summer, I would be very surprised if he is not representing his nation in Eugene this next Summer.