Lobo T&F Set for Busy Weekend in California

New Mexico Track & Field splits up across three meets in California this weekend to compete at the Mt. SAC Relays (April 17-18), Bryan Clay Invitational (April 17-18) and PCI / Beach Invitational (April 17-19) for more NCAA Regional qualifying marks with last-chance weekend looming just two weekends away.

After a record-breaking weekend for UNM’s sprints crew last Friday in El Paso, both the Lobo men’s and women’s teams rank among the Top 10 in the nation in the USTFCCCA’s National TFRI Rankings for the second week in a row after doing so for the first time in program history the week prior — they both slot in at No. 10 in the nation this week after the men moved up to No. 9 and women to No. 8 last week. After running the fastest men’s 100m race in program history on Friday in El Paso (10.21 / 10.24 converted), Cam Watts was named MW Men’s Track Athlete of the Week for his efforts.

Thursday’s action features Habtom Samuel and Ishmael Kipkurui make their return to collegiate competition after running the two fastest 10,000m times in NCAA history at Sound Running’s THE TEN — they’ll race in the fastest 5,000m heat of the weekend at Bryan Clay late on Thursday night (10:20 p.m. MT). Meanwhile over at Long Beach, Watts competes in his first collegiate 200m race and Lou-Anne Pouzancre and Rebecca Grieve run in the two fastest women’s 200m heats of the day along with four Lobos competing in the 400mh hurdles.

Live results will be available for all three meets, with streaming available via paid subscription to FloTrack for all the action at Bryan Clay Invite in Azusa. Head to GoLobos.com/TrackResults for all of this weekend’s live results and follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.

Mt. SAC Relays
April 16-18 | Walnut, Calif.

Bryan Clay Invitational
April 16-18 | Azusa, Calif.

Pacific Coast Intercollegiate / Beach Invitational
April 17-19 | Long Beach, Calif.

CAM WATTS NAMED MW TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
After running the fastest 100m race in program history on Friday in El Paso, Cam Watts has been named MW Track Athlete of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.

In the men’s 100 meters on Friday at the UTEP Sun City Classic, Cam Watts — a dual-sport athlete in football and track and MW Indoor Champion in the 60 meter dash — won the event in 10.21 seconds (+1.5 m/s) to set a new UNM school record after conversions (10.24 conversion for NCAA ranking purposes). The previous mark of 10.28 (converted) was held by BeeJay Lee (2012) and Victor Akhalu (2023). Watts now leads the MW performance list in the 100m and ranks Top-50 in the nation and No. 16 in the West Region, all but assuring he’ll advance to NCAA First Round Preliminaries with that mark. Watts also contributed to the Lobos’ 4x100m relay squad that won the Sun City Classic with a 40.23 (40.34) time that ties for the third-fastest time in UNM outdoor history and is 0.33 seconds off the school record, good for fifth-fastest in the conference currently.

RANKINGS CHECK-IN
After both the UNM men and women stayed ranked among the Top 30 in the nation for all six USTFCCCA TFRI rankings of the indoor season, both teams cracked the Top 10 in the same weekly ranking for the second week in a row after doing so for the first time in program history in last week’s polls.

The UNM men dropped one sport to No. 10 – their second Top-10 national TFRI ranking in history after cracking the national Top 10 for the first time last week with their highest team ranking ever (No. 9). Their previous best was No. 18 ranking last week and in the final week of the 2011 season.

Likewise, the UNM women have climbed to their highest national team ranking since 2019, moving down two spots to No. 10 in the country after last weekend’s results. In the time since they clocked in at No. 7 in the nation in the final regular-season ranking of the 2019 season, the Lobo women had only cracked the Top 10 as a team once until last week’s No. 8 ranking, coming in at No. 9 in the nation in Week 4 in 2022.

In this week’s #EventSquad rankings, the Lobos cracked the Top 10 in the nation in five distance events — UNM ranks No. 1 in the nation in the men’s 10,000m, No. 2 in the men’s 1,500m, No. 8 in the men’s 5,000m, No. 3 in the women’s 5,000m, No. 10 in the women’s 1,500m. The women also cracked the Top 100 in the women’s 200m (No. 54), women’s 800m (No. 26) and women’s pole vault (No. 36). After last week’s results, the Lobo men’s 400m hurdle crew moved up to No. 11 in the nation.

UNM MEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 3 USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS

• National Rank: No. 10 (-1)
• Mountain Region Rank: No. 4 (-1)
• Mountain West Conference Rank: No. 2 (–)

UNM WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 3 USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS

• National Rank: No. 10 (-2)
• Mountain Region Rank: No. 4 (+1)
• Mountain West Conference Rank: No. 1 (+1)

UNM MEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 3 USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS (Top 100 only)

• Men’s 400mH – No. 11
• Men’s 1,500m – No. 2
• Men’s 5,000m – No. 8
• Men’s 10,000m – No. 1

UNM WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 3 USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS (Top 100)

• Women’s 200 – No. 54
• Women’s 800m – No. 26
• Women’s 1,500m – No. 10
• Women’s 5,000m – No. 3
• Women’s Pole Vault – No. 36

THE ROAD TO NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Participants for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships first rounds are determined by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee. For each individual event contested at both of the NCAA Regional Preliminary Round sites, the Top 48 declared student-athletes and Top 24 relay squads in their respective regions will be accepted into the competition, with the Top 12 in each Prelim advancing to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. June 11-14.

University of North Florida will host the East Preliminary in Jacksonville and Texas A&M will host the West Preliminary in College Station, with both taking place May 28-31.

Heading into this week’s competition, 10 Lobo women currently rank among the Top 48 on the West Region Qualifying List across six events and one relay squad, including six who are ranked in the Top 20 of their events. Judy Rono continues to lead the way, ranking No. 10 in the 800 meters (2:05.44) and No. 6 in the 1,500 meters (4:14.81). Marion Jepngetich remains No. 2 in the 5,000 meters (15:22.80), while Alice Seguin is ranked No. 6 in the same event (15:33.10). Nicola Jansen holds steady at No. 19 in the 10,000 meters (33:29.01), and in the steeplechase, Pamela Kosgei and Sophia McDonnell rank No. 1 (9:15.93) and No. 3 (10:01.17), respectively. Notably, Rono, Seguin, Kosgei, and McDonnell remain in qualifying position for multiple events. Additional qualifiers include Brigid Hanley (No. 24 in the 1,500m; No. 26 in the 5,000m), Sophia McDonnell (No. 36 in the 1,500m), Hanna Bruckmayer (No. 49 in the 1,500m), Jasmine Wood (No. 29 in the 10,000m), and Hanna Kiess (No. 35 in the 400 hurdles). The women’s 4×400 relay squad is also inside the Top 20, currently ranked No. 12 (3:34.35).

On the men’s side, 13 Lobos currently hold Top 48 qualifying marks in seven different events. Mathew Kosgei leads the charge with the nation’s No. 1 time in the steeplechase (8:22.13), while Collins Kiprotich remains No. 3 in the 5,000 meters (13:25.06). The men have five ranked in the Top 20 of the 1,500 meters: Kosgei (No. 4), Iker Sanchez Lopez (No. 11), Mathew Endrody (No. 15), Lukas Kiprop (No. 30), and Rikus Van Niekerk (No. 41). In the 10,000 meters, Evans Kiplagat leads three qualifiers at No. 12, joined by Vincent Chirchir (No. 21), Rikus Van Niekerk (No. 34), and Thomas Termote (No. 35). Cam Watts cracks the Top 20 in the 100 meters at No. 16 (10.24), while Endrody is also ranked No. 33 in the 800 meters. Additional qualifiers include Sanchez Lopez (No. 30 in the 5,000m), Kiprop (No. 36 in the 5,000m), Levente Soos (No. 32 in the 400 hurdles), and Arian Milicija (No. 28 in the pole vault). The 4×100 relay performance from El Paso last Friday – the UNM No. 3 all-time outdoors – also holds a qualifying mark at No. 44 (40.35). Kipkurui and Samuel’s performances from THE TEN — the collegiate No. 1 and No. 2 performances at that distance outdoors all-time — do not count towards NCAA qualification.

LOBOS VS. THE WORLD
Entering this week, the Lobos have three different athletes with world-leading marks in three events – Pamela Kosgei (9:15.63) and Matthew Kosgei (8:22.13) lead the world in women’s and men’s steeplechase, with Ishmael Kipkurui’s 26:50.21 NCAA-record performance two weeks ago at Sound Running’s THE TEN leading the world in the men’s 10,000m. Behind Kipkurui, Habtom Samuel’s 26:51.06 clocking at THE TEN – the No. 2 performance in NCAA history – also ranks No. 2 in the world.

After putting down the fastest men’s and women’s steeplechase performances in the world this year – and the No. 16 and No. 2 marks in collegiate history, respectively – New Mexico’s Matthew Kosgei and Pamela Kosgei have both been named Mountain West OTF Freshmen & Athletes of the Week, with Kosgei also being named USTFCCCA National Co-Athlete of the Week for the second time in her career.

It’s the fourth MW weekly track award for Pamela Kosgei this year – and sixth including the cross country season – and the first of Matthew Kosgei’s career.

LAST WEEKEND (UTEP Sun City Classic)
In total, UNM athletes recorded nine all-time Top 10 outdoor performances, including two new school records, at the UTEP Sun City Classic in El Paso, Texas:

• Cam Watts stole the spotlight in the men’s 100 meters, clocking 10.24 (+1.5 m/s) to win the event and break the UNM program record, previously shared by BeeJay Lee (2012) and Victor Akhalu (2023) at 10.28. The dual-sport athlete now holds the No. 2 mark in the 60m (indoors) and the No. 1 performance all-time in the 100m (outdoors) and ranks No. 16 in the West Region — a surefire qualifier.
• On the women’s side, the 4×400-meter relay squad of Sofia Pineda, Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer, Hanna Kiess, and Rebecca Grieve shattered the school record with a time of 3:34.35 — nearly five seconds faster than the previous mark of 3:38.85. Grieve’s anchor split of 52.5 was the fastest in program history and the first ever under 53 seconds.
• In the 200 meters, Hoyer tied for No. 6 all-time at UNM with a 23.82 performance (+0.2 m/s), placing sixth overall and fifth collegiately. Behind her, Grieve ran 24.14 for a new personal best, with Pineda (24.34) and Kiess (24.69) also notching PRs.
• Freshman Arian Milicija made his mark in the pole vault by clearing 17-2¾ (5.25m) to win the event and become just the eighth athlete in program history to clear 17 feet outdoors. His clearance now ranks No. 6 all-time at UNM.
• The men’s 4×100-meter relay team of Brodie Young, Elijah Jefferson, Cameron Miller, and Cam Watts clocked 40.34 to win the event and tie for the No. 3 all-time mark in school history — just 0.33 seconds off the program record.
• Jefferson also impressed in the 200 meters, posting a collegiate-best 21.18 (+0.5 m/s) to finish fourth overall and first among college athletes — a new personal best for the senior. That performance puts him in NCAA Regional qualifying position at No. 41 in the West.