When Emmah Jemutai ran at AIC Cheptonon Secondary School in Nandi County, Kenya, she never focused on preparing for a specific event.
“I used to run, like, 100 meters, 200, 400,” she said. “Yeah, I didn’t know which one was the best.”
After high school, she joined a club in her hometown of Kapsabet and got involved with an organization called Townhall Athletics Club, which hosted a sort of time trial in which for any runners who finished below a certain threshold, Townhall would help connect them with colleges in the United States. On that occasion, Jemutai competed in a run at the opposite end of the spectrum: the 3,000 meters.
It wasn’t until coming to Kansas that she was able to triangulate and completely focus on the appropriate events to fit her skill set: the 800- and 1,500-meter races.
“I think I have a good endurance and speed at the same time, because I used to run 100 and 200,” said Jemutai, now a junior at KU. “I think that’s what made my 800 to be good, but a 1,500, I’ve been training for it, and I have good endurance for that.”
It has all come together for her this season at KU. Her training has become more consistent, with the support of her teammates, and she has avoided the injuries that hampered her as a sophomore, resulting in dramatically improved physical and mental health. And as a result, she won both the 800 and 1,500 at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships last month and was named the league’s women’s track and field performer of the year.
“That was so exciting and amazing,” Jemutai told the Journal-World, “Because I knew I have won 1,500 and 800, I made like 20 points, it’s a lot. Yeah, I was so happy, actually. I think Coach was happy too.”
Head coach Stanley Redwine said in a press release announcing the honor, “She represents the program incredibly, and not just from the things she’s doing on the track, but because she is such an amazing person that is always making everyone around her better. She is incredibly coachable and is always smiling and making people around her smile.”
“He gives me good tips,” Jemutai said, “like don’t pressurize yourself for doing this and this, like make yourself comfortable doing what you like, what you love.”
Jemutai fell in love with running growing up when her father, a former runner himself who had to stop due to injury, “used to tell me every single morning when I was young, ‘Go training, go for training,'” she said.
Now she will have the chance to do what she loves on her biggest stage yet as a first-time qualifier for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which begin on Wednesday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. She finished third in the 800 at two minutes, 0.66 seconds and fifth in the 1,500 at 4:08.73 in preliminary competition in Arkansas to earn spots in both races.
“I think I’ll compete smart and try to balance both the events, yeah, and get a good time,” Jemutai said.
The level of success she has attained in both is not common. Prior to her dual victories, no other athlete had won both events in the same Big 12 Championships since 2001.
“Because I started with 1,500, I think it made my 800 so easy, because I do some laps and my body is still good,” she said, “… and also I balanced them, not like I wanted to do the best (at one or the other).”
That’s not to mention the fact that she had to do the two races just 80 minutes apart.
“I think most of the people think it’s crazy,” she said, “but I think for me I was well prepared for that, and between 1,500 and 800, it was like one hour, 20 (minutes), so I had to like do a little cooldown for like 0.5 miles, and then could just rest for the next race.”
She will have to experience a similar challenge in Eugene. The 1,500-meter semifinal is scheduled for 7:21 p.m. Central time on Thursday, with the 800 semifinal at 8:58. If she qualifies for both of Saturday’s finals, they will take place even closer together at 7:12 and 8:14.
Kansas’ Emmaculate Jemutai runs the 800 meters at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship at Rock Chalk Park on Friday, May 16, 2025.
NATIONALS PREVIEW
While Jemutai is the lone Jayhawk competing in two distinct events at outdoor nationals, 10 of her teammates will also make the trip to Eugene to cap off the season.
Four of them are part of the women’s 4×400-meter relay team that finished 10th at the West Preliminary. Ethel Amissah, Deshana Skeete, Pearl Awanya and Sidney Smith recorded a time of three minutes, 30.56 seconds and are the second-fastest team in the event in KU history.
Senior Anthony Meacham will make his first appearance at the outdoor championships after a distinguished season. During the 2025-26 academic year, he has earned first place in the pole vault five times, second four times and third twice, including at the West Preliminary. Along the way, he has won indoor and outdoor league titles and reset the school record on multiple occasions.
Freshman distance runner Stephen Maroro will make an early-career national debut after finishing ninth in the 10,000 meters with a time of 28:57.05 at the West Preliminary.
John Swabik, a Colorado transfer, won the Big 12 decathlon title with a school-record score of 7,819 and qualified automatically as one of the top 24 competitors nationwide.
Several members of the KU contingent have experienced the event before. Michael Joseph, a sixth-year senior, was a second-team All-American when he came in 10th in the 400 meters back in 2023. He will get another chance to compete after placing ninth at 45.43 seconds in preliminary competition.
Mason Meinershagen reached nationals as a freshman in 2024, where she ended up 16th in the pole vault. This season, she set a personal-best clearance of 4.57 meters back in April before using a mark of 4.43 meters to qualify out of prelims.
In the women’s discus, Sofia Sluchaninova will be back on the national stage for her senior season after her throw of 56.30 meters got her 12th place in the spring of 2025. This time around, her mark of 56.47 at the West Preliminary put her in seventh.
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World