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Cross Country

Lobos Sweep MW Cross Country Weekly Honors

by Connor Gilbert

A big week of accolades for New Mexico Cross Country continued with a sweep of this week’s Mountain West weekly awards, with Kosgei winning MW Women’s Freshman & Athlete of the Week, Samuel winning Men’s Athlete of the Week and Collins Kiprotich named Freshman of the Week, the  league announced Tuesday.

At Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on Saturday, Kosgei and Samuel outpaced the previous records on this year’s NCAA Championship course by 18.1 and 34.4 seconds respectively to anchor a sixth-place finish for the No. 17 Women and a fourth-place finish for the No. 8 Men in the final team score against a field that included a combined 39 teams ranked in the prior week’s national polls, earning USTFCCCA Co-National Athlete of the Week honors for their efforts on Monday. Kiprotich was the top freshman for the Lobos in that race with a 26th-place overall finish (23:15.7).

The conference honors are the second of the season for Kosgei and the first of the fall for Samuel and Kiprotich — Samuel won a combined five Freshman & Athlete of the Week awards across cross country, indoor and outdoor track season last year.

PAMELA KOSGEI | MW FRESHMAN & ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (OCT. 22)
On this year’s NCAA Championship course, Kosgei took over down the stretch to shake off Florida’s Hilda Olemomoi and dip under the 19-minute mark with a 18:59.1 clocking – 18.1 seconds faster than the previous course record set by Parker Valby in 2023 (19:17.2). UNM was one of only four teams tht placed three or more runners in the Top 50 overall thanks to 37th- and 38th-place finishes from Natalie Bitetti (20:06.8) and Mercy Kirarei (20:07.5), with Klara Dess (62nd, 20:19.3) and Sophia McDonnell (100th, 20:37.3) closing the gap to finish with 236 points in the team score — good for sixth against a field that included 10 teams ranked above UNM.

Kosgei hung with the front pack before turning on the jets down the stretch, closing the final 2,000 meters in 6:10.0 — the fastest single split of the race — to go from seventh to first, securing her second individual win in as many races.

“I said, ‘Let me push it, maybe I’ll win — because I say that may the best win,” said Kosgei post-race. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to win today, but I’m glad I did.”

HABTOM SAMUEL | MW MEN’S ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (OCT. 22)
Up next in the men’s 8K, Samuel replicated the feat, shaving more than 30 seconds off Ky Robinson’s previous record of 23:09 with a 22:34.6 time – 6.8 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and 2023 NCAA Champion Graham Blanks — to complete the individual title sweep for UNM. Behind him, Vincent Chirchir (23:06.5) finished 11th, Collins Kiprotich (23:15.7) finished 26th, Evans Kiplagat finished 63rd and Rikus Van Niekerk finished 65th to anchor a 166-point outing that placed the men fourth in the team score.

In similar fashion to Kosgei, Samuel stayed patient and controlled through the first 6,000 meters before bringing down the hammer late, closing with a 5:31.2 split over the final 2K as he put distance between himself and the next four runners that crossed the finish line within two seconds of each other. Samuel was the first of nine runners to finish under the previous record.

COLLINS KIPROTICH | MW MEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
In only his second collegiate race, Kiprotich finished 26th against a field that included 19 ranked teams in Madison as the Lobos’ crucial third point-scorer, crossing the finish line in 23:15.7.
No. 8 men shed 10 points over the final two kilometers to beat out No. 6 Northern Arizona for fourth place, outpacing 15 nationally-ranked teams in the team score to solidify their status as national title contenders.

UP NEXT
The Lobos will get another break before kicking off postseason racing at Mountain West Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Nov. 1. All races will be streamed via the MW Network, with live results available via GoLobos.com/XCResults. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on IG and X for raceday updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.

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