Samuel Breaks His Own 5K Record to Lead Big Night in Boston
BOSTON, Mass. – Habtom Samuel broke his own UNM 5,000m program record by nearly 10 seconds – the No. 4 performance in indoor history – to lead three distance teammates that recorded new UNM All-Time Top 10 performances in the 3K and 5K races at the John Thomas Terrier Classic Saturday in Boston.
In his first 5,000m race of the indoor season, Samuel put down a 13:04.92 time that moves him from No. 15 to No. 4 on the NCAA All-Time List – a 9.93-second improvement from his UNM indoor record (13:14.85) and 8.44 seconds faster than his outdoor record (13:13.34). It stands as the fastest 5K performance – indoor, outdoor or cross country – by a UNM athlete.
Habtom is 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞‼️
Samuel takes nearly 10 seconds off his own 5K program record to finish as the second-fastest collegian in the top heat in Boston.
His 13:04.92 clocking ranks among the Top 5⃣ performances in @NCAATrackField history! pic.twitter.com/axeiKNWBZd
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) February 2, 2025
Samuel closed the final 200-meter lap in 28.35 seconds – the second-fastest closing split of the first heat – to finish third behind professional runner Jimmy Gressier (13:00.54) and D-II National Cross Country Champion Romain Legendre of Adams State (13:02.08). Legendre and Samuel were the only two collegians in the overall top seven and their times now rank No. 3 and No. 4 on the NCAA All-Time.
NCAA ALL-TIME TOP 5 (INDOOR 5,000M)
Behind him, teammate Ishmael Kipkurui ran the second-fastest personal best – and third-fastest individual performance – in UNM history, finishing in 13:22.03 to place 13th in the first heat and 16th overall. In the following heat, Evans Kiplagat (13:37.40) recorded a new season best to finish 26th overall and Vincent Chirchir (13:44.55) moved from No. 10 to No. 7 on the all-time list with a new indoor best. Those four times stand as the four fastest in the Mountain West.
In the men’s 3,000m, Collins Kiprotich posted a new personal best that stands as the second-fastest in UNM history (7:46.90), finishing as the second-fastest collegian in the field behind Colorado’s Isaiah Givens (7:45.01). The reigning MW Athlete & Freshman of the Week after posting the fastest collegiate raw mile time ever ran at altitude, Kiprotich is now less than four seconds away from cracking the NCAA All-Time Top 25 in the 3K.
In the same heat, Lukas Kiprop (7:49.52) took 2.44 seconds off his season-opening performance on the same track in Boston last December to 9th in the heat and 11th overall.