Lobos Open Indoor Track Season Saturday in Boston
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Track & Field will head to Boston this weekend for the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Dec. 2, the first of 11 meets – including six hosted at the Albuquerque Convention Center – on this year’s indoor track schedule.
11 Lobo athletes will represent UNM at Boston University’s Track & Tennis Center on Saturday, one of three meets in which the Lobos will compete in the host city of this year’s NCAA Indoor National Championships along with the David Hemery Valentine Invitational (Feb. 9-10) and the Terrier DMR Challenge (Feb. 16).
Saturday’s events will be streamed on FloTrack, with live results available via GoLobos.com. Follow @UNMLoboTFXC on Instagram and @UNMLoboXCTF on X for live coverage, race content and more.
SHARON COLYEAR-DANVILLE SEASON OPENER
Dec. 2 | Boston, Mass. | Boston University Track & Tennis Center
| Colyear-Danville Season Opener Entries | ||
| Name | Race | Previous Best |
| Samuel Field | 3,000 Meters | 8:10.88* |
| Luke Cunningham | Mile | 4:04.97* |
| Habtom Samuel | 5,000 Meters | 13:13.74^ |
| Lukas Kiprop | 3,000 Meters | 7:41.97^ |
| Evans Kiplagat | 5,000 Meters | 13:43.89^ |
| Jonathan Carmin | 3,000 Meters / 5,000 Meters | 8:01.63 / 13:52.94 |
| Ethan Brouw | 800 Meters / Mile | 1:47.21 / 4:16.03 |
| Thomas Termote | 5,000 Meters | 14:11.24* |
| Klara Dess | 3,000 Meters | 9:40.79^ |
| Sarah Eckel | 3,000 Meters | 9:15.20 |
| Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi | 3,000 Meters | 9:48.46 |
*Denotes indoor time from prior college
^Denotes outdoor time from amateur/international competition
HABTOM’S INDOOR DEBUT: 2023 Cross Country National Runner-Up and Mountain Region Champion & Athlete of the Year Habtom Samuel will compete in the 5,000m in his first collegiate indoor meet on Saturday. The Eritrean-born freshman was a bronze medalist in both the 5,000m and 3,000m at U20 World Championships in 2022, with outdoor personal bests of 13:13.74 and 7:52.69, respectively.
Competing alongside Samuel in the Men’s 5,000m will be fellow first-timer Evans Kiplagat — the reigning MW Cross Country Freshman of the Year and an All-American at NCAA Championships after finishing 33rd as an individual — along with two other NCAA Championship race participants in Jonathan Carmin and Thomas Termote. Carmin was a MW Indoor Champion in the 5,000m and finished ninth in the 3,000m, with his 5,000m personal best from last season’s Danville-Colyear Season Opener in Boston (13:52.94) — his first collegiate indoor meet as a freshman — breaking the Israeli national record.
UNM’s No. 5 finisher on the men’s side at XC Championships, Termote was a Mountain East Conference champion in the mile and runner-up in the 3,000m and 5,000m last indoor season at D-II Charleston (W.V.) — he ran his personal best indoor 5,000m (14:11.24) at the Boston University Last Chance Meet in 2022.
BROUW’S RETURN: An indoor All-American in the 800m last season after breaking the school record and finishing 14th at NCAA Championships, Ethan Brouw is set to compete in the 800m and the Mile on Saturday. His personal best of 1:47.21 at the UW Husky Classic on Feb. 11 ranked No. 17 in the nation at the conclusion of the season, and he put down a mile PR of 4:16.03 en route to a 14th-place finish at MW Championships.
Joining Brouw in the mile is fellow Aussie and grad transfer Luke Cunningham, who was an NEC Champion in the mile last season with Wagner and posted a 4:04.97 personal best when he competed at this weekend’s track in Boston on Feb. 4.
FIELD AND KIPROP IN THE 3K: Florida State transfer Samuel Field and All-Mountain Region XC freshman Lukas Kiprop are set to compete alongside Carmin in the Men’s 3,000m, an event which Field competed in at ACC Indoor Championships in 2022 and touts a PR of 8:10.88. Kiprop, competing in his first indoor season, ran personal bests in both 3000m (7:41.97) and 5000m (13:28.23) last summer in outdoor international competition in Italy.
LOBO WOMEN BACK IN ACTION: Three Lobo women’s runners will compete in the 3,000m — Klara Dess, Sarah Eckel and Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi — all three of which with prior indoor experience. Dess — competing in her first collegiate 3K — and Heckel were both a part of UNM’s Distance Medley Relay team that won a Mountain West title last season, with Dess finishing seventh in the 800m and Eckel finishing fifth in the mile. Firezghi and Eckel’s indoor 3,000m personal bests of 9:48.46 and 9:15.20, respectively, were both ran at the Colyear-Danville Opener last season. Dess has never ran an indoor 3K, but put down an outdoor best of 9:40.79 in 2021 prior to her time at UNM.
| LOBO COMPETITION TIMES | ||
| Time (Mountain) | Race | Competitors (Seed #) |
| 9:07 a.m. | Men’s Mile | Ethan Brouw (7), Luke Cunningham (11) |
| 10:45 a.m. | Men’s 800 Meters | Ethan Brouw (7) |
| 11:55 a.m. | Women’s 3,000 Meters | Klara Dess (35), Sarah Eckel (40), Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi (48) |
| 1:05 p.m. | Men’s 3,000 Meters | Jonathan Carmin (19), Samuel Field (37), Lukas Kiprop (53) |
| 4:25 p.m. | Men’s 5,000 Meters | Jonathan Carmin (35), Evans Kiplagat (121). Habtom Samuel (215), Thomas Termote (251) |
THIS YEAR’S INDOOR SLATE
Following the indoor opener in Boston, UNM competes in the Air Force Holiday Open on Dec. 9 in Colorado Springs, Colo. to wrap up competition for the semester. The Lobos return in January to play host to four consecutive meets at the Albuquerque Convention Center, where they hosted NCAA Indoor Championships last season. First up is the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational on Jan. 20, followed by the UNM Team Open Jan. 26-27, the New Mexico Collegiate Classic Feb. 2-3 and the Don Kirby Invitational on Feb. 9-10.
After two more meets in Boston, the Albuquerque Convention Center will also be the host site for the 2024 USATF Indoor Championships on Feb. 16-17 and the Mountain West Championships from Feb. 22-24. All home meet info, including schedules, parking, media coverage and more, will be available via golobos.com/home-track-info.
The Lobos have been the host of the MW Indoor Championship in each season that it has been held since 2014. USATF Indoor Championships will be held in Albuquerque for the third consecutive year.
The top 16 competitors in the nation in individual events and the top 12 in relays will earn berths to the NCAA Indoor Championship Meet, set to take place in Boston at The TRACK at New Balance from March 8-9. Opened last year, the state-of-the-art facility touts a 200-meter hydraulically banked track, a 24,000 square-foot warmup area with a capacity for 5,000 attendees.