• Jepkosgei has been drafted alongside Margaret Chelimo who finished seventh during last weekend's trials at the Ngang Racecourse.
• Edwin Kosgei had earlier taken world half marathon record holder Geoffrey Kamworor's place after the National Police officer also gave the African show a wide berth.
World Half Marathon champion Joyciline Jepkosgei has been integrated into Team Kenya to the Africa Cross Country Championships following the withdrawal of national champion Sheila Chelangat and Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medallist Stacy Ndiwa.
Jepkosgei, the 2019 New York Marathon champion, has been drafted alongside Margaret Chelimo, who finished seventh during last weekend's trials at the Ngang Racecourse.
Also lucky to grab a seat in the flight to Lome, Togo for the April 8 continental championships is Titus Kimutai, who was added following the withdrawal of San Silvestre de Sao Paulo 15km Road race champion Kibiwott Kandie.
Edwin Kosgei had earlier taken world Half Marathon record holder Geoffrey Kamworor's place after the National Police officer also gave the African show a wide berth.
Kandie is in the Team Kenya to the World Half Marathon Championships set for March 29 in Gdynia, Poland.
As much as Kandie has never donned national colours to represent the country, he said the World Half Marathon Championships is an event that every runner will want to compete in.
“It has always been my dream to run for Kenya and being the champion at national cross country, I was named in the team to Togo but I will not run in Lome. I want to concentrate fully on the World Half Marathon,” said Kandie, the Brussels half-marathon winner.
The Kenya Defence Forces runner made headlines on the new year when he defeated Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo to win San Silvestre de Sao Paulo road race.
Meanwhile, National Police Service runner Ndiwa said the continental show will collide with a race she had signed for earlier on.
“I have a race in the same week as the Africa cross country and so it will be hard for me to compete in Togo,” said the former Commonwealth Youth Games 1,500m champion.
Elsewhere, world 3,000m steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech anchors the mixed relay team that also has Gilbert Kwemoi, Abel Kipsang and Lydia Jeruto.
Athletics Kenya (AK) vice president in charge of competitions, Paul Mutwii, said the withdrawals are understandable and there is nothing to worry about since Kenyan runners are world-class, regardless of their positions at national trials.
"Since we do not have wildcards in this event, we will just drop down the list of finishers whenever an athlete expresses his desire to withdraw. In this case, we have two athletes in the top six for both men and women and it was only fair to pick position seven and eight on both lists," said Mutwii.