Bernard Lagat

Bernard Lagat enters his fourth year as the Wildcats’ Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track and Field Coach (Distance) after an illustrious professional running career.

During the 2022 cross country season, Lagat coached seven men and six women to the NCAA Western Regional Championships, where the young men’s team placed 14th overall. The Arizona Women finished the season with four top-five team finishes and the Arizona Men ended with three. Those team finishes were highlighted by the Dave Murray Invitational, the team’s only home meet of the season, where both the men and women won their competitions. Additionally, the women’s team also won the UC Riverside Invitational in Riverside, Calif. To begin the year, both the men and women finished second at the George Kyte Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz. Throughout the 2023 season, the Wildcats had seven top-ten finishes on the men’s side and four on the women’s side. For the men, Ian Sanchez Lopez placed second at two competitions, while Grace Driskill had a highest finish of third for the women.

Under Lagat, the Arizona Distance Women had four top-10 finishes in the 800m, two in the 3000m, and one in the 5000m during the 2023 indoor track and field season. Alisa Lyesina finished sixth at the Ken Shannon Invitational in the 800m, clocking a time of 2:04.75. Lyesina also placed second in the 800m at the WSU Open earlier in the year. Brigid Hanley and Sailor Hutton finished second and third in the 3000m at the meet as well. The Arizona Distance Men had six top-10 finishes in the 800m, four in the mile, and one in the 3000m. Iker Sanchez Lopez finished fourth at the Ken Shannon Invitational in the mile with a time of 4:00.77.

During the 2023 outdoor season, Lagat coached the Arizona Distance Women to nine top-10 finishes in the 800m, seven in the 1500m, two in the 3000m, and two in the 5000m. Alisa Lyesina finished 13th at the NCAA West First Round Championships with a time of 2:05.18 in the 800m. Lyesina also placed sixth at the Pac-12 Championships in the 800m to score for the Arizona Women. Additionally, she won the 800m at the Willie Williams Classic and placed second at the Island Relays. Sailor Hutton won the 3000m and placed third in the 1500m at the Jim Click Shootout. Lyesina and Hutton each had a top-two finish in the 1500m during the season as well. On the men’s side for distance, Lagat coached a team that had nine top-10 finishes in the 800m, 11 in the 1500m, six in the 3000m, and two in the 5000m. In the 800m, Cade Russo placed 10th at the Pac-12 Championships and also posted a top-three finish at the Island Relays. Iker Sanchez Lopez finished 10th at the Pac-12 Championships in the 1500m. He also placed second in the event at both the Jim Click Shootout (3:45.00) and the Island Relays. At the Jim Click Shootout, the Arizona Men finished one through five, with Ian Sanchez Lopez winning the event with a time of 8:19.10.

As for Lagat’s professional running career, he has nearly as many American records (six) as he has wins in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games (8). His 2010 season included becoming the first ever American to win both the 3,000m and 5,000m at the IAAF Continental Cup while setting the American record in the indoor and outdoor 3,000m and outdoor 5,000m.

Lagat now stands alone in the Millrose Games record book with his eight Wanamaker Mile wins and surpassed Irish legend Eamonn Coghlan's previous best total of seven wins. Lagat donated all his bonus earnings during the 2010 indoor season to the Haiti Relief Fund. In 2007, Lagat won the first ever gold medal by an American in the 1,500m at the World Outdoor Championships and the first Olympic or World Championships gold for the country since 1908. He also became the first man ever to win the 1,500m-5,000m double at World Outdoors, and the first American to win a World Championship medal of any kind at 5,000m.

In winning both races at the 2006 USA Outdoor Championships, he become the first man ever to pull off the historic double. In 2006 Lagat posted the five-fastest 1,500m times by an American. He also had the fastest 3,000m and 5,000m times that season in the country. Lagat won a pair of 1,500m Olympic medals for his native Kenya before changing his national affiliation to the United States. A United States resident since 1996, Lagat officially became eligible to compete for the United States one day after the start of the 2007 World Outdoor Championships.

Lagat recently competed at the 2016 Rio Olympic games where he placed fifth-overall in the 5K race at an astounding 41 years of age. He clocked in three seconds behind gold at 13:06.78.

In growing up on his family's farm in Kapsabet, Kenya, Lagat sprinted a mile and a half to school each morning, and the same distance back. He began studying at Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture and Technology when he became serious about running competitively. Lagat left Kenya for the United States when he received a scholarship from Washington State University in Pullman. He earned BA's from Washington State in Management Information Systems, and Decision Science (Econometrics). Lagat is married to Gladys Tom and they have one son (Miika Kimutai Lagat) and one daughter (Gianna).