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Habtom Samuel, Lukas Kiprop Break Indoor Program Records in Boston

Men's Results Women's Results

BOSTON, Mass. – New indoor 5,000m and 3,000m school records from Habtom Samuel and Lukas Kiprop highlighted New Mexico Track & Field’s first indoor competition of the season at the Sharon Danville-Colyear Invite at Boston University on Saturday, with five Lobos setting new personal bests.

SPEEDY SUMMARY

  • At a meet and facility that have become known for producing NCAA qualifying times in the last few seasons, both Samuel and Kiprop put record-setting times in the first indoor racing of their careers, with Evans Kiplagat and Samuel Field also entering the program record book in their first indoor meets as Lobos.
  • Samuel was the fourth-fastest collegian in a race that saw Harvard’s Graham Blanks break the NCAA indoor 5,000m record. He shattered the UNM record by nearly 18 seconds, putting down the 11th-fastest collegiate 5,000m race in history (13:14.85) in the process.
  • Evans Kiplagat also broke the prior 5,000m record with a 13:30.56 finish in the second heat – he’s now in possession of No. 2 on the all-time list behind Samuel.
  • Kiprop finished as the sixth-fastest collegian of the Men’s 3,000m while breaking the record, finishing in 7:47.52.
  • Also in the 3,000m, Field PR’d for the first time since the 2021-22 indoor season and moved into the No. 10 spot on the UNM all-time list with a 8:06.54 finish.
  • Semira Mebrahtu and Klara Dess PR’d in the Women’s 3,000m by 20 and 9 seconds, respectively.

THE ACTION
Ethan Brouw and Luke Cunningham opened things up in the men’s mile, finishing third and fourth in the second heat to place 15th and 16th respectively. Brouw – the indoor program record holder in the 800m – finished with a 4:04.85 time for a new personal best, shaving more than 11 seconds off the 4:16.03 mark he set at last year’s MW Indoor Championships. Cunningham finished right behind in 4:05.82, 0.85 seconds short of his personal best set at the same track in February while competing for Wagner (4:04.97).

Up next in the Women’s 3,000m, Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi (9:27.89) and Klara Dess (9:31.40) both ran personal bests, with Firezghi clipping more than 20 seconds off her previous PR (9:48.46) set at the same meet last season – the biggest margin of improvement of the day by a UNM runner – to finish seventh in Heat 3.

Running her first indoor 3,000m, Dess shaved more than nine seconds off her best outdoor 3K time (9:40.79) – a performance she hadn’t beaten since 2021 – for an 18th-place finish in the second heat ahead of Sarah Eckel (9:57.06, 22nd).

Kiprop led the way in his first indoor 3,000m race, finishing eighth in the fastest heat as the sixth-fastest collegian while putting down a new school record with his 7:47.52 finish to beat out Abdirizak Ibrahim’s 7:48.71 mark in 2022 by more than a second. Kiprop’s time would rank No. 23 amongst the 2022-23 indoor season’s fastest 3K times in the nation. 

Three of the runners ahead of Kiprop – NAU’s Drew Bosley, Oklahoma State’s Ryan Schoppe and pro runner Kieran Lumb (formerly of Washington) – all ranked in the Top 10 in the nation in the 3,000m last season, with a seven-year professional in Craig Engels also in the mix. 

Nico Young (NAU) ran the third-fastest time in NCAA history (7:37.73) en route to the event win, with Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau (7:38.04, second) and Ryan Schoppe (7:38.80, fourth) running the fourth- and seventh-fastest times in history.

Samuel Field (8:06.54) followed up with a new collegiate best – his first indoor 3K PR since Feb. 2022 while competing for Florida State at the Arkansas Tyson Invitational – and Jonathan Carmin crossed the finish in 8:07.64 as the duo placed eighth and 10th in the third heat and 36th and 40th overall. In his first indoor meet in a UNM uniform, Field’s time moved him into the No. 10 spot on the UNM all-time indoor 3,000m list.

In a loaded 5,000m field that included seven of the Top 10 individual finishers at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championship race, Samuel – already a Cross Country Mountain West Athlete of the Year, NCAA Mountain Region Champion and National Runner-Up – continued his year of dominance with the Lobos’ second school record of the day. The Eritrean-born freshman shattered the previous UNM best (13:32.78) by nearly 18 seconds, finishing with a 13:14.85 time that stands as the 11th-fastest in collegiate history en route to a fifth-place finish. He didn’t run a single lap slower than his second 200 meters (32.79s) the rest of the way, putting down sub-32 second splits in five of his final six rounds.


Only three collegians in a field of hundreds crossed the finish line faster than Samuel, and all three recorded historic marks – Graham Blanks (Harvard) and Ky Robinson (Stanford) both ran the two fastest 5,000m races in collegiate history and Parker Wolfe (UNC) ran the eighth-fastest. Among the top indoor times in the nation for the 2022-23 season, Samuel’s finish would rank No. 5.

In the next heat, Evans Kiplagat became the second Lobo to finish below the previous school record, finishing in 13:30.56 to secure the No. 2 spot on the UNM all-time list. He finished third in his heat and 22nd overall. Thomas Termote closed out the Lobos’ day in Boston in Heat Nine, finishing eighth in the heat with a 14:13.98 time.

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
New Mexico heads to Colorado Springs, Colo. next week to compete in the Air Force Holiday Open at the Cadet Field House on Dec. 9, with 18 athletes – 13 women and five men – making the trip. Live results will be available via GoLobos.com – follow @UNMLoboTFXC on Instagram and @UNMLoboXCTF on X for live coverage, meet day content and more.

LOBO RESULTS
MEN’S MILE
15. Ethan Brouw – 4:04.85*
16. Luke Cunningham – 4:05.82

WOMEN’S 3,000M
41. Semira Mebrahtu Firezghi – 9:27.89*
43. Klara Dess – 9:31.40*
90. Sarah Eckel – 9:57.06

MEN’S 3,000M
8. Lukas Kiprop – 7:47.52^
36. Samuel Field – 8:06.54*
40. Jonathan Carmin – 8:07.64

MEN’S 5,000M
5. Habtom Samuel – 13:14.85^
22. Evans Kiplagat – 13:30.56*
133. Thomas Termote – 14:13.98

*New personal best
^New school record

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