Lobos Shatter Indoor Mile, 300m Records on Day 2 at MLK Invite

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Collins Kiprotich and Pamela Kosgei ran the fastest indoor miles at elevation in collegiate history and Brodie Young and Rebecca Grieve followed up with new program bests in the 300m on Day Two at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Invitational Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center, with the Lobos notching 17 new personal bests and nine new all-time Top 10 performances in total on the weekend.

ON THE TRACK
Kiprotich won the men’s mile with a 3:58.60 (3:53.40 converted) clocking, finishing ahead of two teammates that also raced their way into the all-time list – Lukas Kiprop (4:00.82 raw, 3:55.57 converted) moved up to No. 5 all-time and Ishmael Kipkurui (3:58.16 converted) moved to No. 8 with their respective performances, with Habtom Samuel (3:59.59 raw time) finishing just shy of his No. 2 all-time mark with a 3:54:37 conversion.

Kiprotich’s elevation-modified 3:53.40 time stands as the third-fastest in the nation this season and ranks No. 13 in collegiate history all-time.

What a finish! 👏

Collins Kiprotich and Waleed Suliman battled it out to the finish in the men’s mile, clocking 3:58.60 and 3:58.65, respectively.

Watch the rest of the meet LIVE on FloTrack.#mlkinvite2025 pic.twitter.com/ugcRVckOAr

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) January 26, 2025

Joshua Abraham (4:06.77) posted the sixth-fastest time of the day and Matthew Endrody (4:11.95) placed eighth overall ahead of Vincent Chirchir (4:12.12, 9th), Evans Kiplagat (4:13.46, 10th), Jayden Hernandez (4:13.73, 11th), Rhys Crawford (4:14.89, 13th), Kipruto Koech (4:22.36, 17th), Will Pardue (4:33.03, 27th).

In the women’s race, Kosgei boat raced the field en route to breaking Weini Kelati’s indoor record (4:31.07) that had stood since 2019, finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of the next-fastest finisher with a 4:36.70 time that converts to 4:30.68 – a time that ranks among the Top 40 in collegiate history and stands at No. 4 in the nation this season.

After putting down a casual 4:36.70 at 5,000 feet 💅 pic.twitter.com/3APCks4ZYy

— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) January 26, 2025

In her first two collegiate indoor races, she has broken both the 5,000m and mile records – her 5,000m time ranks No. 4 on the NCAA all-time list.

Judy Rono followed with a converted PR (4:40.41) that stands as a 4.87-second improvement on her collegiate debut in Boston in January (4:45.28) to finish second overall, with Nicola Jansen (4:47.25), Natalie Bitetti (4:49.21), Sophia McDonnell (4:50.52) and Rilyn Stevens (4:56.22) all putting down the Top Six times of the day across the first two heats. Millie Freeland (4:56.62) and Christina Nisoli (5:01.62) finished ninth and 10th ahead of Alice Seguin (5:08.08, 13th), Anya Belisle (5:15.22, 15th), Stefana Purkovic (5:16.08, 16th), Maleah Goldie (5:23.19, 22nd), Sylvia Schwedler (5:24.24, 23rd), Lyla Fedio (5:39.23, 30th) and Katrina Endres (5:39.48, 31st).

Young posted the fastest time of the day in the men’s 300m sections, finishing in 32.79 – more than half a second ahead of the next finisher. That time bested Jevon O’Bryant’s previous program record of 33.39 at the same MLK meet in 2023 and stands as the eighth-fastest in the nation so far this season as well as the Top 25 in collegiate history. It’s the second loud performance in as many days for the Scottish junior, who ran the third-fastest indoor 200m race in program history on Friday night.

Behind him, freshmen Kahari Wilbon (34.11) and C.J. Pizzeck (35.07) finished 7th and 8th, respectively.

After a dominant 200m PR in the unseeded sections yesterday that saw her move up to No. 2 on the all-time 200m list, Rebecca Grieve followed up with a 37.81 finish in the women’s 300m to break teammate Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer’s 38.44 program record set last year – the Lobos’ fourth program record of the day and fifth of the weekend.

Lukas Kiprop returned for his first collegiate 800m race and finished sixth with a 1:52.07 time (1:51.44 converted), just ahead of Luke Cunningham (1:52.80 / 1:52.17) in seventh. Sophia McDonnell led the way in the women’s 800m (2:13.77 / 2:13.02) with the second-fastest time of the second heat and ninth overall ahead of Millie Freeland (2:15.73 / 2:14.97) in 13th.

In the women’s 4x400m relay, UNM’s “A” squad added one more All-Time Top 10 performance to the list, putting down a 3:46.15 (3:46.59 converted) time that ranks No. 9 in program history indoors.

ON THE RUNWAYS
Cameron Miller placed third in his first men’s triple jump competition with a 14.90m mark on his third attempt and Lilee Kaasch jumped 11.63m in the women’s flights – her best career opener – to finish fifth. That mark is good for No. 98 in the nation heading into next week’s competition.

In the men’s “A” pole vault, true freshman Aryan Milicija vaulted 4.92m (16′ 1¾”) to finish 12th overall – the best pole vault mark by a man from New Mexico since 2022, when Camillo Dunninger cleared 5.00m. Isabel Thomas notched a 3.52m (11′ 6½”) in the women’s “A” pole vault section to finish 12th as well.

UPDATED NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (THROUGH JAN. 25)
(Top 100 only; Top 16 declared entries advance to NCAA Indoor Championships at the conclusion of the season)