Habtom Samuel Finishes as 3,000m First Team All-American in Boston
BOSTON, Mass. – Habtom Samuel collected his second First Team All-American honors of the meet with a seventh-place finish in Saturday’s Men’s 3,000m Final to close out New Mexico Track & Field’s weekend at NCAA Indoor Championships – the third All-American honor of the true freshman’s dominant debut year.
Samuel crossed the line in 7:46.86 to finish as the second-fastest freshman in the field, 5.85 seconds behind first-place finisher Nico Young of Northern Arizona. It’s the best finish by a UNM men’s runner in the National 3,000m Final since Adam Bitchell finished sixth in 2015, and the fastest 3K run at Indoor Championships in program history.
Samuel already finished fourth in the Men’s 5,000m Final yesterday to earn his first indoor All-American award and become the highest-placing Lobo men’s athlete at Indoor Championships since Josh Kerr won it all in the mile in 2018, tying Chris Barnicle (2010) and Matt Gonzalez (2005) — who both also finished fourth — for the best Indoor National Championship finish by a Lobo men’s athlete at that distance. His time was more than 13 seconds faster than both, and nearly four seconds faster than Luke Caldwell’s 13:34.54 elevation-converted time in 2014.
THE YEAR OF HABTOM
Since the 2023-24 season, Habtom Samuel has racked up accomplishments at a pace unseen by any true freshman in UNM history. He’ll add two more All-American trophies to an already lengthy list:
- 2023 Mountain West Athlete of the Year (XC)
- NCAA Runner of the Week (XC)
- USTFCCCA Mountain Region Athlete of the Year (XC)
- Mountain West Champion (XC)
- NCAA Mountain Region Champion (XC)
- NCAA Championship Runner-Up (XC)
- Mountain West Championship Record Holder (XC)
- UNM Program Record Holder – 5,000m, 3,000m, Mile (Indoor)
- 11th-Fastest 5,000m time in NCAA History (Indoor)
- Mountain West Championship Performer of the Meet (Indoor)
- Mountain West Championship Record Holder – 5,000m, 3,000m (Indoor)
- Mountain West Champion – 5,000m, 3,000m (Indoor)
UP NEXT
With indoor season complete, New Mexico Track & Field gets a nearly two-week respite before hosting the UNM Spring Invitational on March 23. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.