Bernard Lagat, Robert Cheseret, Lawi Lalang, Elvin Kibet, Stephen Sambu. What do they all have in common?
 
Three words: Dr. James Li.
 
Arizona head cross country coach has been coaching distance runners since the 1970s, including some of the top Kenyan runners of all time.
 
How it Began
Back in the 70s when Li was a graduate assistant at Washington State, Li couldn't help but notice that head coach John Chaplin was bringing in some high-level athletes from Kenya.
 
"Coach Chaplin was one of the pioneers to bring Kenyan runners to the U.S. and to go to college," Li said. "We had some unbelievable athletes ... we are talking about world record holders and Olympic champions – a number of them. Washington State was well known for that and being a GA there, I was exposed to that. Toward the end, I actually coached some of the Kenyan athletes."
 
After a few years of working in Division II, Li returned to Washington State as an assistant coach and was given the reigns to the distance program. Once he got settled, Li decided to follow in his mentor's shoes and continue the pipeline of Kenyan runners at Washington State.
 
"I wanted to try and explore it and continue the tradition with the Kenyan athletes," Li said. "In January of 1995, I made my first trip to Kenya. It was a very different time then. I got to know some people and sort of have a good understanding of the system there and the situation. I brought in a couple that weren't terribly noticeable runners, but they ended up being All-Americans."

That's when a young man from Kapsabet, Kenya named Bernard Lagat changed everything.
 
"In the fall of '96 I got Bernard Lagat and after 24 years, I'm still coaching the guy," Li said. "He's still one of the top runners in the world and has a very unique and tremendous career. Of course, those things will lead to a situation where you've had a lot of success and then more people want to come."
 
"One of the things that is really different about coach Li is his individual planning and training, and that really stood out to me," volunteer assistant coach Bernard Lagat said. "He told me 'I want you to be successful in college, get your education, and get your career started, and then I want to coach you past college.' That was something that I wanted to hear because I wanted to be successful in college and at the professional levels."
 
Under the direction of Li, Lagat became an 11-time All-American in track and cross country and won multiple national championships while being named the 1999 NCAA Indoor Male Athlete of the Year. He would go on to become one of the most decorated distance runners of all time, competing in five Olympic games and winning multiple medals.
 
"Coach Li has meant so much to me," Lagat said. When I look at my career, I look at it as one that would not have been successful without him. He knows me more than I know myself as a runner.
 
Li Comes to Tucson
When Li was hired by head coach Fred Harvey in 2002, he wanted to continue recruiting athletes from Kenya to come to Tucson. During the interview process, Li mentioned a name to Harvey that could potentially be an instant impact at Arizona: Robert Cheseret, Lagat's brother.
 
Fast forward a few years, Li is coaching Cheseret to his second national championship on his way to becoming one of the most decorated athletes in Arizona and NCAA history.
 
"Coach Li's specialty to me is his ability to identify those types of Kenyan runners who don't have a lot of experience competing at the NCAA level or even in Kenya and come in and succeed," Harvey said. "He's been really exceptional at that. So making a trip to Kenya is a natural thing if we're going to be serious about recruiting Kenyan athletes. He had experience way before coming here going to Kenya and being able to have contact with the coaches there and getting into some specialized schools that some other coaches can't get into.
 
"When coach (Dave) Murray retired and I was looking at the different distance coaches, I met with coach Li and he had this picture in his office of Robert Cheseret. He said 'this young man is going to be pretty good and I think that if I do come, how do you feel about me recruiting him?' We were in Madison, Wisconsin for his first meet and at a flat 200-meter track, which the guy had never run on a real synthetic track let alone, now we throw him indoors and it was the craziest experience. He was running really well and he's looking around and saying hi to people. It was fascinating to watch him go and he was running really fast."
 
"I really didn't know how good he was," Li said. "I just knew that he was Kip's (Lagat's) brother and then I had some video watching him run a little bit. I talked with coach Harvey and we decided to take a chance and bring him here. Sure enough, he was a national champion and an All-American. At one point, he won ten Pac-10 distance titles."
 
Cheseret started a trend of successful Kenyan runners to compete at the highest level at Arizona. Lawi Lalang would go on to win eight national championships, Stephen Sambu was a seven-time All-American and a two-time conference champion, Elvin Kibet was a seven-time All-American and Collins Kibet was the 2016 Pac-12 Champion in the 800m race.
 
The Tradition Continues
Yes, Li still makes his trips to Kenya almost 20 years into his Arizona coaching career. The Wildcats currently have two Kenyan student-athletes representing the Block A in Timothy Kibet and Shem Kemboi.
 
"I found Timothy and Shem on my trip to Kenya in 2017," Li said. "Over the years I have made I think eight or nine trips to Kenya. It's a really fascinating country with fascinating people. We definitely have our share of good runners from Kenya here."
 
During both of their recruitments, the success coach Li and Arizona had with Kenyan runners was a huge factor in their decision to take a leap of faith and attend the University of Arizona.
 
"When I met coach Li back in Kenya, he told me about them," Kibet said. "I started wanting to know more about the school and runners like Lawi Lalang, Stephen Sambu, and Collins [Kibet]. It is a challenge to me because I want to be like them."
 
"I saw that most of the Kenyans who came here were performing and running well and I wanted to do that," Kemboi said. "I knew that when I came to the U.S. I was going to have a chance to perform at a high level."
 
Lawi Lalang, Stephen Sambu, and those guys are who I admire. I would say, 'I want to be like those guys'. They were out there setting NCAA and school records and that is what I admire."
 
With Lagat being one of Arizona's volunteer assistant coaches, student-athletes like Kemboi and Kibet have the opportunity to learn from a legend in the distance running game.
 
"He tells me what it takes to become successful," Kemboi said. "He motivates me. I always say I want to be like Bernard Lagat."
 
"We train with him and he helps me with my running style," Kibet said. "He just tells me how he started his running and how he developed to be one of the greatest runners. He's a mentor of mine."
 
"There's always success if you work hard," Lagat said. "I tell them it takes some time to adjust and that Whenever you start building your base here in academics and in running, you have to be the driving force. When you do that, you will be successful. I tell them to enjoy it and have fun, but when you lace those shoes, make sure you are serious about it. When someone says to me 'Bernard I just ran 15 miles for the first time' with a smile on their face, that is what makes me happy."