2010 Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track and Field Media Guide

ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH JAMES LI
Distance
8th Season
Washington State
University
In 2002, James Li joined
the Wildcat track and field
coaching staff to direct the
distance runners and men’s and
women’s cross country program.
He came from Washington State
University, where he worked with
the Cougar track and field and cross country programs for a
combined total of 13 years. He received a master’s degree from
WSU in 1987 and a doctorate in 1993.
During his collegiate coaching career, Li has coached numerous
individual athletes and relay teams to more than 30 conference
championships, 50 All-American honors, and 9 national
championships. Behind Li’s guidance, Cougar
distance great Bernard Lagat was named NCAA
Division I indoor athlete of the year and
Pac-10 athlete of the year in 1999.
Lagat also won the bronze medal
in the 1,500 meters at the 2000 Sydney
Olympic Games, as well as a silver medal at
the 2001 IAAF World Championships.
Li earned one of the more
prestigious honors of
his career over the past
summer, where he served
as the United States
Olympic Track and Field
Team Manager at the
2008 Summer Games in
Beijing. Li took on the
responsibility in addition
to coaching Lagat at his
third straight Olympics.
In 2007, Lagat had a history
making performance at the
World Championships in Osaka,
Japan as he became the first man
to win the 1,500/5,000m double at World Outdoors, and the
first American ever to medal in the 5,000 at Worlds. Earlier in
the 2007 season, Lagat broke the American record indoors at
3,000 meters. For his work with Lagat, Coach Li was named the
2007 Nike Coach of the Year by USA Track and Field.
Lagat’s brother, Robert Cheseret, is yet another of the great
athletes to come from Li’s tutelage and did so in dominating
fashion as a Wildcat. With Li’s coaching, Cheseret dominated
the NCAA distance events during his four-year tenure at the
UA. In cross country, Cheseret was a three-time All-American,
finishing as a top-10 runner in three of his four seasons.
Cheseret’s most impressive races may have come in track
and field, however, where he would win two national
championships as a Wildcat and earned All-American accolades
six times.
During his college career under Coach Li, former Wildcat
distance standout Robert Cheseret broke three school
records, won ten conference individual titles (track and
cross country) and was been named the Pac-10 Athlete
of the Year twice in cross country and three times in
track and field. This all came in addition to being
a three time national champion outdoors.
During the 2009 cross country season, Li oversaw
Mohamud Ige put in perhaps the comeback story of the
year after a disappointing 2008 campaign. After a
freak accident early in the season, Ige bounced
back to earn All-American honors at the NCAA
Championships with his 38th place overall
finish. At the NCAA West Regionals, Ige
shocked many on his way to a ninth place,
All-Region performance.
As the UA’s head cross country coach,
Li also saw the Arizona women’s
squad qualify for their first NCAA
Championships as a team since 2001.
Last season saw Li guide redshirt freshman Abdi
Hassan to a freshman record setting performance
in the 1500-meter run of 3:42.04 at the NCAA West
Regional Championships to finish fourth and earn a
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2008-09 Arizona TRACK & FIELD Media Guide