Habtom Samuel Named MW Athlete of the Week
Following another strong performance against the nation’s best at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisc., Habtom Samuel was named Mountain West Male Athlete and Freshman of the Week for the week of Oct. 9-15.
Samuel followed up his splashy debut at Griak with another solid showing against significantly tougher competition, finishing third in a likely national championship preview while hanging with eventual champ Graham Banks of Harvard (23:23.4) and second-place finisher Nico Young of Northern Arizona (23:26.1) in a men’s 8K that featured 22 teams ranked among the Top 30 in the nation by the USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll. The true freshman never dipped lower than seventh place the whole way, moving up to the No. 3 spot at the 6K mark and holding it till the finish. He crossed the finish line in 23:26.2, a PR of more than 10 seconds — in considerably more difficult weather conditions — from his time of 23:36.4 that won the Roy Griak Invite in his collegiate debut on Sep. 22.
2⃣ for 2⃣! Habtom earns his second @MountainWest Athlete / Freshman of the Week honors in as many races after a huge third-place finish at Nuttycombe!
READ 🗞️: https://t.co/epXdOY4KEd#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/NYuQWQE6qV
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) October 17, 2023
UNM’s 14th-place finish in the 8K “A” race is the best finish at Nuttycombe for the Lobo men since 2014, when they finished 12th.
After receiving votes in this week’s USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll, the Lobo men beat 10 teams ranked in the Top 30 nationally and four in the Top 15 in the team score – No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 12 Butler, No. 13 Stanford, No. 15 Eastern Kentucky, No. 18 Wake Forest, No. 19 Florida State, No. 23 Gonzaga, No. 25 Iona, No. 26 Michigan and No. 27 NC State – as well as five other teams that were receiving votes this week. They also outpaced all four Mountain West rivals – Air Force, Boise State, Utah State and Colorado State – scoring 56 fewer points than the Broncos (18th) and 60 fewer than the Falcons (19th).
UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Lobos gear up for postseason racing at the Mountain West Championships on Oct. 27 in Boise, Idaho. Live Results and streaming will be available via GoLobos.com and the MW Network. Follow @UNMLoboTFXC on Instagram and @UNMLoboXCTF on X for live coverage, race content and more.