Lobos to Take Part in Terrier DMR Challenge on Friday
New Mexico Men’s Track & Field heads to Boston for the second weekend in a row to compete in the Terrier DMR Challenge on Feb. 16, with the Lobos’ distance medley relay squad set to make its season debut against the best competition in the country.
Samuel Field will open up the competition in the men’s mile at 4:05 p.m. MT, with UNM’s DMR squad set to compete at 5:10 p.m. MT. Friday’s meet will be streamed live via FloTrack, with live results available via the UNM 2023-24 Track Schedule page or by visiting GoLobos.com/TrackResults. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on IG and X for raceday updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.
FRIDAY’S COMPETITORS
The distance medley relay is the only NCAA championship relay event where every leg is a different distance. The versatility of the legs gives mid-distance and distance runners a chance to run relays, an opportunity not afforded in the 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter relays. Those legs are 1200-meters, 400m, 800m and 1600m in order.
UNM’s DMR squad will open with Evans Kiplagat in the 1200m, Levente Soos in the 400m, Dylan Burrows in the 800m and Habtom Samuel in the 1600m. Samuel Field will travel as an alternate and compete in the men’s mile.
Friday will be the first time Kiplagat competes in a race shorter than 3,000m in his first collegiate season — the 2023 XC All-American posted new personal bests in the 3,000m (7:59.43) at the UW Indoor Preview and 5,000m (13:26.56) last Saturday at the same Boston U facility that will host Friday’s competition. Those times rank 26th and 15th in the nation on the most recent TFRRS NCAA D-I Indoor Qualifying list.
Another freshman in Levente Soos will be running the shortest leg of the relay — he set a new personal best in the event at the Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque last weekend, crossing the finish line in 49.16 — the fastest by a UNM freshman this season.
Burrows came 25 hundredths of a second short of his lifetime PR with a 1:48.86 finish at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 3, a time that ranks among the Top 40 in the nation. He holds the No. 4 spot on the UNM all-time list in the event, with his 600m split (1:19.71) ranking as the 10th-fastest 600m in program history.
UNM’s anchor will be none other than reigning Mountain West Athlete / Freshman of the Week Habtom Samuel, who broke his own program record to win a loaded men’s 3,000m field at the same facility in Boston on Saturday with the 12th-fastest time in NCAA history. The Mountain West XC Athlete of the Year and NCAA Runner-Up ran a sub-four minute mile at elevation at the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational in Albuquerque on Jan. 20 (3:59.12), his last competition prior to Saturday. He currently ranks No. 10 in the nation in the mile (3:53.92), No. 11 in the 3,000m (7:40.63), and No. 5 in the 5,000m (13:14.85).
After breaking the four-minute barrier for the first time in his career on Saturday (3:59.99), Samuel Field will return to the same track in hopes of improving on that time. Field would need to run below 3:58.41 to crack the Top 50 in the nation in the event.
The Lobos’ men’s distance group will regroup with the rest of the squad next week when the Lobos host the Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships Feb. 22-24 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.