Lobo Men Place 18th at NCAA Championships

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Habtom Samuel finished as an NCAA Runner-Up and Nicola Jansen and Evans Kiplagat both earned All-American honors at the NCAA National Championship race on Saturday, with the Lobo Men finishing 18th in the team score in their first nationals appearance since 2014.

Samuel and Kiplagat’s finishes are the first time UNM comes away from NCAA Championships with multiple All-Americans on the men’s side since 2004. All three All-American finishers were newcomers to this year’s Lobos squad — four of UNM’s five point-scorers in the men’s race were also newcomers.

Samuel crossed the finish line in 28:40.7 to place second in the nation behind individual champion Graham Blanks of Harvard. His runner-up finish is the best by a UNM men’s runner at nationals in program history, matching Matt Gonzales’ second-place finish in 2004.

𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓-𝑼𝒑. The culmination of a legendary first season for Habtom 👏#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/d89gxN8ogu

— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) November 18, 2023

Behind Samuel, Kiplagat also finished as an All-American in his first collegiate season, crossing the finish in 19:41.8 to place 33rd. Lukas Kiprop (148th, 31:03.0), Thomas Termote (174th, 31:18.5) and Matthew Larkin (207th, 31:54.4) rounded out UNM’s point-scoring as the Lobos beat out two teams ranked above them in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll en route to their 18th-place finish.

Meanwhile, Jansen – representing the Lobo women as an individual qualifier — finished as an All-American in her first nationals race, placing 36th with a time of 20:05.7. Her finish makes it 12 consecutive seasons in which at least one UNM women’s runner earned All-American status.