Mercy Kirarei Earns MW Athlete / Freshman of the Week Honors

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After a dominant debut race at the UNM Team Open, New Mexico’s Mercy Kirarei has been named this week’s Mountain West Track Freshman & Athlete of the Week.

Kirarei, a native of Eldoret, Kenya who joined the Lobos at the semester, ran the fastest 3,000m time in the conference and 17th-best in the nation on Friday, winning the event with a 9:17.32 time that converts to a 9:03.60 for NCAA qualifying purposes. That performance — mere weeks after Kirarei got on campus — ranks No. 5 on the UNM all-time indoor list.

On the Mountain West list, Kirarei’s converted time is nearly 18 seconds faster than the No. 2 time in the conference from UNLV’s Natalia Ruiz Lara (9:21.39).

In the USTFCCCA’s initial event squad rankings released Monday, the UNM women ranked No. 11 in the nation in the 3,000m, with Kirarei’s time anchoring a 9:27.50 average between the Lobos’ top four runners.

The Lobos host their third consecutive home meet this weekend at the Albuquerque Convention Center as part of the New Mexico Collegiate Classic Feb. 2-3. Next weekend’s events – as well as all of UNM’s collegiate home meets this season – will be exclusively live streamed via FloTrack, with live results available via GoLobos.com/TrackResults.