PULLMAN, Wash. -- Wayne Phipps, WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field, announced Wednesday that National Letters of Intent were signed by two sprinters and two distance runners who will compete for Washington State University in the 2018-19 school year.
 
The sprinters are Tony Pizzillo from Spokane, Wash., and Ray Wells from Renton, Wash. The distance runners are Emma Jenkins from Camas, Wash., and Geneva Schlepp from Sammamish, Wash.
 
Pizzillo is a senior at Shadle Park High School in Spokane. His state 3A championship finishes included runner-up in the 200m, third in the 400m and fourth in the 100m last spring. Pizzillo's personal-records times are: 10.85w in the 100m, 21.70w in the 200m and 48.77 in the 400m, all run at the 2017 state meet. He is a three-time team MVP for the Highlanders. As a member of the Spokane Speed Academy Track Club, Pizzillo was a member of the 4x200m relay squad that won the Simplot Games where he earned All-America honors. He won the boys 17-18 division of the 100m, 200m and 400m at the 2017 USATF Inland Northwest Association Track & Field Championships, and then won the 200m in a PR time of 21.26 and 400m at the USATF Region 13 Junior Olympics Championships. He went on to the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships where he took ninth place in the 200m and sixth place in the 400m with a PR time of 48.28. He was a member of the 4x400m relay that placed seventh at the national meet. Pizzillo has a 3.48 grade point average and plans to major in sport management at WSU.
 
"Tony will be an invaluable addition to our sprint squad," Assistant Coach for sprints and relays Yogi Teevens said. "He was highly recruited and we are so excited to have him here as a Coug! He has a strong family network, great work ethic, and a desire for success. It's inevitable that he will become one of the top sprinters in the Pac-12."
 
Emmanuel Ray Wells Jr., graduated from Rainier Beach High School in 2016 and currently is a sophomore at Central Arizona College. While at Rainier Beach, Wells was a two-time Metro League and state 3A champion in the 200m. He also won the 100m state title in 2016 after a runner-up finish in 2015. He earned All-Metro First Team honors twice and was named all-state as a senior. Wells competed for the Seattle Speed and High Voltage Track Clubs. He won the 200m and was on the winning 4x100m relay team at the 2016 USATF Pacific Northwest Association Junior Olympic Championships and went on to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the USATF Region 13 Junior Olympics. At the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships, Wells placed 14th in the 200m and 17th in the 100m. At Central Arizona, Wells competed at the 2017 National Junior College Athletic Association Indoor Championships, finishing 21st in the 60m dash and 26th in the 200m. During the 2017 outdoor season, Wells won the NJCAA Region 1 titles in both the 100m and 200m, running PR times of 10.45 and 21.20. He advanced to the NJCAA National Championships where he finished 19th in the 100m and 16th in the 200m. He was named to the Honor Roll as a freshman at Central Arizona.
 
"Ray joins us with a ton of experience. He will make an immediate impact on the Pac-12 in his individual sprint events as well as add strength and depth to both of our relay squads," Teevens said. "He had lots of options and opportunity out of Central Arizona and I'm so happy he chose Pullman as the place to continue his athletic and academic careers."
 
Jenkins is a senior at Camas High School where she is wrapping up her final season of cross country including her fourth consecutive finish in the top seven of the state 4A championships meets. The Camas girls team won the state 4A cross country titles in 2014 and 2105, and were runners-up in 2016 and 2017. Jenkins was a four-time All-Greater St. Helen's League first team and all-region selections. She finished 32nd at the 2017 Nike Cross Regionals Northwest (NXR) meet after previous finishes of 16th, 19th and eighth. Jenkins also had Nike BorderClash finishes of 18th and 37th. During outdoor track competitions, at the state 4A championships had 3200m finishes of fifth, and 10th twice. She also finished 13th and ninth in the 1600m state finals. She was a three-time all-league pick for 1600m/3200m. Jenkins has a 3.55 GPA and had earned all-league academic honors for both cross country and track.
 
"Emma has a lot of experience running at highly competitive high school meets so her transition to collegiate running should be pretty smooth," Assistant Coach for distance CharLee Linton said. "Given her accolades from her last four years of cross country and track and field, she will likely have an immediate impact on our program."
 
Schlepp is a senior at Skyline High School where she was a two-time All-KingCo cross country second team selection. She finished fifth at the 2017 state 4A Cross Country Championships after previous finishes of 52nd and 41st. At this year's Nike Cross Regionals Northwest (NXR) meet she was 40th after an 18th-place finish in 2016. In 2015, Schlepp was the runner-up at the USATF Pacific Northwest Association Junior Olympic Championships and then won the USATF Region 13 Junior Olympics title. She went on to finish 20th at the USATF Junior Olympics National Cross Country Championships, earning All-America honors. On the track, Schlepp has state meet finishes of seventh in the 1600m 2017, after an 11th place in 2016 when she also took ninth in the 800m. She was accorded two all-league and all-region first team honors as well as a 2017 all-state first team accolade. In the summer of 2016, running unattached, Schlepp won the 800m (PR 2:23.06) and the 1500m at the USATF Pacific Northwest Association Junior Olympic Championships. At the USATF Region 13 Junior Olympics she was the runner-up in the 800m and took third in the 1500m. Schlepp's finishes at the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships included eighth in the 1500m (PR 4:49.16) for All-America honors, and 36th in the 800m. Schlepp has a 4.0 GPA, is a 2017 National Merit Commended Scholar and a member of the National Honors Society. She plans to major in civil engineering at WSU.
 
"Geneva has greatly improved her running resume in the past year which makes me very excited to have her as a part of our team. She is going to continue to develop as a competitor and will help us meet our team goals next fall," Linton said. "I have a really great feeling about these two girls and I can see them both having important leadership roles in the future."