Lobos Open Outdoor Season This Weekend Across 3 Meets

New Mexico Track & Field splits up across the country to open up the outdoor season this weekend, competing at the Bobcat Invitational at Texas State (March 28-29) and at Sound Running’s THE TEN (March 29) while hosting the UNM Spring Invitational at home (March 29).

On Saturday, five Lobos – three current athletes and two alumni – will compete at “The World’s Fastest 10,000m” at Sound Running’s THE TEN in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Last year, Habtom Samuel ran the second-fastest time in collegiate history and Lobo alum Weini Kelati won the women’s race to secure the Olympic standard. This time around, both will be joined by alum Calli Hager-Thackery and current athletes Pamela Kosgei and Ishmael Kipkurui as all five seek qualifying times for World Athletics Championships. 

This weekend’s competition begins tomorrow evening in San Marcos with women’s and men’s 400m hurdles races at the Bobcat Invitational. Head to GoLobos.com/FollowTrack for all of this weekend’s live results and streaming links all in one place and follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.

Bobcat Invitational & Multi
March 28-29 | San Marcos, Texas | Texas State

UNM Spring Invitational
March 29 | Albuquerque, N.M. | UNM Track & Field Complex

Sound Running’s THE TEN
March 29 | San Juan Capistrano, Calif. | JSerra High School

UNM Spring Invitational entries still TBA.

FRIDAY – BOBCAT INVITATIONAL
5 pm – Women’s 400mH
5:40 pm – Men’s 400mH
6:30 pm – Women’s 200m
7 pm – Men’s 200m

SATURDAY – SOUND RUNNING’S THE TEN
9:55 pm – Women’s 10,000m (TOKYO)
10:35 pm – Men’s 10,000m (TOKYO)

SATURDAY – BOBCAT INVITATIONAL
12:30 pm – Women’s 4x100m
12:50 pm – Men’s 4x100m
1:35 pm – Women’s 100mH
2:00 pm – Men’s 110mH
2:30 pm – Women’s 400m
2:50 pm – Men’s 400m
3:10 pm – Women’s 100m
3:25 pm – Men’s 100m
3:45 pm – Women’s 4x400m
4 pm – Men’s 4x400m

PAMELA KOSGEI NAMED MOUNTAIN WEST INDOOR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Following a dominant showing at MW Indoor Championships that anchored New Mexico’s first team title in a decade and two All-American finishes at NCAA Indoor Championships two weeks ago, Lobo freshman Pamela Kosgei has been named the 2025 MW Women’s Indoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

The honor is awarded to the best male and female student-athletes in the Conference following the conclusion of the indoor season. In her debut cross country season last semester, Kosgei won the Mountain West Cross Country individual title to earn XC Freshman & Athlete of the Year honors.

𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠 & 𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝘼𝙏𝙃𝙇𝙀𝙏𝙀𝙎 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙍 🏆

Daniel Reynolds – Wyoming
Pamela Kosgei – New Mexico pic.twitter.com/NlXG5ZYGtv

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 27, 2025

On the women’s side, Kosgei is the third women’s student-athlete from New Mexico to garner the award and the first since Weini Kelati in 2020. The Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya native has been a freshman sensation for the Lobos as she led the New Mexico women to its first Mountain West Championship Title in 11 years.

She swept the mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter races at the Conference meet to yield a total of 30 points for the Lobo women as they won their first indoor team title in a decade, becoming the first in Mountain West women’s indoor history to sweep all three races at the event. Her winning times in the 3,000 meter (9:08.28) and 5,000 meter (15:53.72) also set Championship meet records.

At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Kosgei captured a pair of All-American honors, finishing third overall (15:07.57) in the 5,000-meter race to garner first team honors and recording a 12th-place finish in the 3,000-meter race (9:04.42) to earn a spot on the second team.

LOBOS AT NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Five Lobos qualified for NCAA Indoor Championships and concluded their seasons as USTFCCCA Indoor All-Americans in Virginia Beach March 14-15, with the Lobo men finishing tied for 26th with 10 points in the team score and Pamela Kosgei’s six total points good for 32nd in the women’s score.

With the seventh and eighth All-American honors of his career after finishing second in the 5,000m and 9th in the 3,000m Finals, Samuel matched Alice Wright for the most All-American honors by any UNM athlete across cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Through eight NCAA Championship races across cross country, indoor and outdoor, Samuel has finished among the Top 10 in the nation in each of them. Also in both races, Ishmael Kipkurui placed seventh in the 5,000m and 14th in the 3,000m to secure two All-American trophies in his first collegiate indoor season.

Pamela Kosgei finished third in the Women’s 5,000m Final and 12th in the 3,000m to pick up two more All-American finishes, with Collins Kiprotich (Mile) and Brodie Young (400m) both missing out on the Finals to finish the season as Second Team All-Americans.

BRODIE GOES BACK-TO-BACK (TO BACK)
Brodie Young took home his second MW Athlete of the Week honors in as many weeks after improving on his UNM program record and Scottish national record in the 400, putting down a 45.66 raw time (45.77 converted) that ranks No. 9 in the nation — a near-lock for NCAA Indoor Championship qualification. It was his first qualification as an individual and the first by a UNM 400m runner since Jarrin Solomon in 2009.

Young put some distance between himself and the previous Scottish record of 45.98 with an improvement of three-tenths of a second. The junior had only recorded three sub-46 performances across the first of his collegiate career – all outdoors – but has now done so twice in his first two 400m races of the 2025 season, with Saturday’s time ranking No. 4 on the UK all-time list. His previous indoor best heading into this season was a 46.54 he put down at the Don Kirby Elite meet as a freshman in 2023.

At MWC Indoor Championships, Young’s roll continued with yet another improvement in both the 400m and 200m — both new program records — as he won gold in the 400m with a 45.46 (45.57 converted) time and led the Lobo men to a win in the 4x400m while becoming the first man from UNM to run a sub-21 second 200 indoors (20.80) and finishing with bronze in that event.

ALL-TIME PERFORMANCES / SEASON RECAP
At the conclusion of the indoor season, Lobo athletes broke 11 program records and recorded 23 All-Time Top 10 entries in total. Among the notables:

• Habtom Samuel beat his own program records in the 5,000m (BU Terrier Invite) and 3,000m (UW Husky Classic) in his last two races – those performances rank No. 4 and No. 16 among collegiate performances indoors all-time.
• In her first three collegiate indoor races, Pamela Kosgei has now broken the UNM 5,000m, Mile and 3,000m records, all previously held by 2024 Olympian Weini Kelati – her 5,000m record set in Boston in December ranks No. 4 on the NCAA all-time list and her 3,000m performance ranks No. 9 on the all-conditions list due to UW’s track surface.
• UNM’s women’s 4x400m and distance medley relays both broke the UNM program records – the 4×400 put down a 3:36.88 converted time on Day Two of the UNM Collegiate Classic and the Women’s DMR finished sixth in a race that featured the five fastest DMR performances in collegiate history for a time that was nearly four seconds faster than the previous UNM best (10:53.48).
• Brodie Young shattered a nearly 15-year-old UNM school record held by Olympian Jarrin Solomon with a 45.96 clocking – beating a nearly 40-year old Scottish national record in the process – and then improved again the following weekend with a 45.66 raw time (45.77 converted) to all but lock up a spot at NCAA Indoor Championships. His qualification is his first as an individual and the first by a UNM 400m runner since Jarrin Solomon in 2009. He did so again at MWC Championships with a 45.46 (45.57) time.
• Alyssa Gregory PR’d twice in the women’s pole vault at MWC Indoor Championships, clearing 4.16m to win gold with a new program record.
• Cam Watts ran the third-fastest time in program history in the 60m dash prelims at MWC Championships (6.68/6.70) before moving up to No. 2 all-time with a 6.64 performance to win gold in the final — the fastest MWC-winning performance since UNM program record holder Ridge Jones in 2015.

RANKINGS CHECK-IN
In the sixth USTFCCCA TFRI rankings of the indoor season, the UNM men and women both ranked among the Top 30 for the sixth week in a row, with the men rising one spot to No. 15 and the women moving up two spots to No. 28. The women dropped one spot to No. 5 in the Mountain Region while coming in at No. 1 in the Mountain West Conference for the fourth week in a row, with the men staying at No. 3 in the region and No. 2 in the conference, respectively.

In this week’s #EventSquad rankings, the Lobos cracked the Top 10 in the nation in five distance events — UNM ranks No. 4 in the nation in the men’s mile, No. 5 in the men’s 3,000m, No. 1 in the men’s 5,000m, No. 12 in the women’s mile, No. 8 in the women’s 3,000m and No. 2 in the women’s 5,000m. 

UNM MEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 6 USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS
National Rank: No. 15 (+1)
Mountain Region Rank: No. 3 (–)
Mountain West Conference Rank: No. 2 (–)

UNM WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 6 USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS
National Rank: No. 28 (+2)
Mountain Region Rank: No. 5 (-1)
Mountain West Conference Rank: No. 1 (–)

UNM MEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 6 USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS (Top 100 only)
Men’s 200m – No. 79
Men’s 400m – No. 97
Men’s 800m – No. 30
Men’s Mile – No. 4
Men’s 3,000m – No. 5
Men’s 5,000m – No. 1

UNM WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 6 USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS (Top 100)
Women’s 200m – No. 42
Women’s 400m – No. 12
Women’s 800m – No. 51
Women’s Mile – No. 12
Women’s 3,000m – No. 8
Women’s 5,000m – No. 2
Women’s Pole Vault – No. 20

SAMUEL NAMED TO THE BOWERMAN PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP WATCH LIST
Following two more Mountain West titles two weeks ago, Habtom Samuel was named to The Bowerman Pre-Indoor Championship watchlist. He’s yet to miss the cut this season for the award annually given to the best track & field athlete in the nation.

After opening the year on The Bowerman Preseason Watch List, Samuel put down a 3:54.37 converted mile time (No. 13 in NCAA D-I) in his season debut in Albuquerque at the Dr. MLK Jr. Invitational (Jan. 25) before running the fastest 5,000m race — indoor or outdoor — in UNM and Mountain West history in Boston. He broke his own 3,000m record with a 7:39.39 to win the event at the Husky Classic and secure his qualifying mark.

In 2024, Samuel — then a true freshman — became just the second man from New Mexico to be named as a semifinalist, joining two-time semifinalist Josh Kerr (2017, 2018). Samuel swept the indoor 3,000m and 5,000m Mountain West titles and finished as a First Team All-American in both events at Indoor Nationals before winning the 10,000m and finishing sixth in the 5,000m at Outdoor Nationals to conclude the season with four First Team All-American finishes on the oval in just his freshman year alone — five counting cross country.

BIG-TIME SEMESTER ADDITIONS
The Lobos got even deeper on the distance side over the semester break with the addition of three U20 Kenyan distance stars with international competition experience in Marion Jepngetich, Ishmael Kipkurui and Matthew Kosgei for the indoor season. Kipkurui — a U20 World Cross Country Champion in 2023 and fourth-place finisher in the 5,000m at U20 Worlds last year — opened up his collegiate career with a 3:58.16 mile conversion on Saturday that moved him to No. 8 on the UNM all-time list. Marion Jepngetich and Matthew Kosgei — both U20 World silver medalists last year in the 3,000m and Steeplechase, respectively — also joined the Lobos at the semester, with Jepngetich making her collegiate debut in Seattle last weekend (4:46.23 Mile; 9:36.41 3,000m) and Kosgei opening with a 4:07.09 (4:07.01 converted) mile as an unattached runner at the UNM Team Open.

Other notable additions include French middle distance standouts Joshua Abraham (4:01.40 converted mile on 1/25, No. 75 in NCAA D-I) and Alice Seguin as well as Brazilian hurdler Pietra Campbell Simões, who put down the seventh-fastest 60 hurdles time in program history (8.69/8.71@) in her event debut.

KOSGEI NAMED HONDA SPORT AWARD FINALIST
New Mexico’s freshman distance superstar Pamela Kosgei has been named as one of four finalists for the Class of 2025 Honda Sport Award for Cross Country, recognizing the top female athlete in the sport for this season.

Kosgei concluded the season as national runner-up at NCAA Championships — the only race which she did not win as an individual in her collegiate debut season. She won all four of her first six collegiate 6K races by an average of 26.95 seconds, winning Mountain West Conference and Mountain Region Individual titles as the top performer for a Lobo Women’s XC squad that finished 7th in the nation when all was said and done In addition to finishing as an All-American, Kosgei earned Mountain West Athlete & Freshman of the Year honors and USTFCCCA Mountain Region Athlete of the Year honors.

Kosgei is the fourth Lobo women’s runner to be named as a finalist for the award along with Courtney Frerichs (2015), Ednah Kurgat (2017) and Weini Kelati (2018, 2019). Kurgat was voted as the overall winner in 2017, with Kelati winning the award in 2019 after finishing second in voting in 2018.