No. 21 Lobo Women Win Cowboy Jamboree, No. 8 Men Finish 2nd
STILLWATER, Okla. – New Mexico Cross Country passed its first big test of the season with flying colors at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday morning, with Pamela Kosgei running away with a dominant individual win in her collegiate debut to lead the No. 21 Lobo women to first place in the team score and Habtom Samuel finishing as runner-up to lead a second-place showing for the No. 8 men.
Both teams backed up their lofty preseason rankings with competitive peformances against some nationally-ranked competition — the UNM women (34 points) beat out No. 16 OSU (4o points) on their home course, and the UNM men (45 points) put a healthy distance between their top five and third- and fourth-place finishers No. 22 Oregon (89 points) and No. 24 Texas (116 points).
| WOMEN’S 6K TEAM SCORE |
MEN’S 8K TEAM SCORE |
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| TEAM | POINTS | TEAM | POINTS | |||
| 1. | No. 21 New Mexico | 34 | 1. | No. 1 Oklahoma St. | 19 | |
| 2. | No. 16 Oklahoma St. | 40 | 2. | No. 8 New Mexico | 45 | |
| 3. | Lamar | 76 | 3. | No. 22 Oregon | 89 | |
| 4. | St. Mary (Kan.) | 168 | 4. | No. 24 Texas | 116 | |
| 5. | Incarnate Word | 180 | 5. | Incarnate Word | 151 | |
Kosgei’s winning time of 19:50.0 was 43.5 seconds faster than the next finisher as she led a Lobo Top 7 that all packed into the overall Top 20, the 10th-fastest 6K time ever ran by a woman on OSU’s Greiner Cross Country Course and fastest there since NCAA Championships in 2022. Kosgei was followed by Natalie Bitetti (4th, 20:48.3), Klara Dess (6th, 20:56.8), and Mercy Kirarei (8th, 21:03.3) in the Top 10, with Hanna Bruckmayer (15th, 21:26.9) rounding out the 1:44:06 spread and Tilly Simpson (17th, 21:30.0) and Sophia McDonnell (18th, 21:31.1) finishing behind them to make it seven in the Top 20.
The UNM women finished with 34 points in the team score to outpace the field, including No. 16 Oklahoma State (40 points).
The Lobo men finished second in the 8K race with 45 points to beat No. 22 Oregon and No. 24 Texas in the team score, with No. 1 Oklahoma State winning the team score with 19 points. In his first collegiate race since winning his first NCAA title in the 10,000m and finishing fifth in the 5,000m Final at NCAA Outdoor Championships in June, Habtom Samuel led the charge with an individual runner-up finish (23:03.6) — both he and overall champion Bryan Musau of Oklahoma State (22:55.6) finished under the previous Cowboy Jamboree record of 23:05.8 set by OSU’s Isai Rodriguez in 2021.
Lobos packed five runners into the Top 15, with Vincent Chirchir (9th, 23:54.3), Collins Kiprotich (10th, 23:58.0), Evans Kiplagat (11th, 24:09.7), and Rikus Van Niekerk (13th, 24:11.6) helping solidify the runner-up spot behind No. 1 Oklahoma State ahead of Corne De Fouw (34th, 24:51.9) and Thomas Termote (40th, 25:09.5).
| NEW MEXICO WOMEN’S FINISHERS |
NEW MEXICO MEN’S FINISHERS |
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| NAME (TIME) | NAME (TIME) | |||
| 1. | Pamela Kosgei (19:50.0) | 2. | Habtom Samuel (23:03.6) | |
| 4. | Natalie Bitetti (20:48.3) | 9. | Vincent Chirchir (23:53.3) | |
| 6. | Klara Dess (20:56.8) | 11. | Collins Kiprotich (23:58.0) | |
| 8. | Mercy Kirarei (21:03.3) | 13. | Evans Kiplagat (24:09.7) | |
| 17. | Hanna Bruckmayer (21:26.9) | 15. | Rikus Van Niekerk (24:11.6) | |
| 20. | Tilly Simpson (21:30.0) | 16. | Iker Sanchez Lopez (24:12.1) | |
| 21. | Sophia McDonnell (21:31.1) | 34. | Corne De Fouw (24:51.9) | |
| 22. | Jasmine Wood (21:34.8) | 40. | Thomas Termote (25:09.5) | |
| 40. | Anya Belisle (22:29.1) | |||
| 45. | Semira Firezghi (22:38.6) | |||
| 55. | Meadow Drebert (22:59.8) | |||
| 71. | Sylvia Schwedler (23:24.4) | |||
| 80. | Maleah Goldie (23:38.7) | |||
UP NEXT
The Lobos will get a three-week respite before another challenge against an even wider of array of ranked competition on this year’s NCAA Championships course at Wisconsin Pre-Nats in Madison on Oct. 19. All races in Madison will be streamed, with live results available via GoLobos.com/XCResults. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on IG and X for raceday updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.