THE ROAD TO NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Participants for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships first rounds are determined by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee. For each individual event contested at both of the NCAA Regional Preliminary Round sites, the Top 48 declared student-athletes and Top 24 relay squads in their respective regions will be accepted into the competition, with the Top 12 in each Prelim advancing to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. June 11-14.
University of North Florida will host the East Preliminary in Jacksonville and Texas A&M will host the West Preliminary in College Station, with both taking place May 28-31.
Heading into this week’s competition, nine Lobo women currently rank among the Top 48 on the West Region Qualifying List across six events, with six among the Top 20 – Judy Rono (800m; No. 10 / 1,500m; No. 6), Marion Jepngetich (5,000m; No. 2), Alice Seguin (5,000m; No. 6), Nicola Jansen (10,000m; No. 19), Pamela Kosgei (Steeple; No. 1) and Sophia McDonnell (Steeple; No. 3). Rono, Seguin, Kosgei and McDonnell are all currently in qualifying position in multiple events.
On the men’s side, 13 more Lobos are cracking the Top 48 in eight different events – Kosgei’s nation-leading 8:22.13 steeple and Kiprotich’s No. 3 5,000m performance (13:25.06) lead six Lobos that rank among the Top 20 in the region. Kipkurui and Samuel’s performances from THE TEN do not count towards NCAA qualification.
LOBOS VS. THE WORLD
Entering this week, the Lobos have three different athletes with world-leading marks in three events – Pamela Kosgei (9:15.63) and Matthew Kosgei (8:22.13) lead the world in women’s and men’s steeplechase, with Ishmael Kipkurui’s 26:50.21 NCAA-record performance two weeks ago at Sound Running’s THE TEN leading the world in the men’s 10,000m. Behind Kipkurui, Habtom Samuel’s 26:51.06 clocking at THE TEN – the No. 2 performance in NCAA history – also ranks No. 2 in the world.
After putting down the fastest men’s and women’s steeplechase performances in the world this year – and the No. 16 and No. 2 marks in collegiate history, respectively – New Mexico’s Matthew Kosgei and Pamela Kosgei have both been named Mountain West OTF Freshmen & Athletes of the Week, with Kosgei also being named USTFCCCA National Co-Athlete of the Week for the second time in her career.
It’s the fourth MW weekly track award for Pamela Kosgei this year – and sixth including the cross country season – and the first of Matthew Kosgei’s career.
LAST WEEKEND (Stanford Invitational, Mike Fanelli Classic)
Last weekend in the Bay Area, Lobo distance athletes recorded 15 marks (8 men’s marks, 7 for women) that rank among the Top 48 in the West Region on this week’s outdoor qualifying list, highlighted by Pamela Kosgei (9:15.63) and Matthew Kosgei (8:22.13) both breaking UNM program records in the steeplechase with times that currently lead the world at all levels in 2025.
In total, UNM athletes notched nine performances that ranked among the UNM outdoor Top 10 all-time in their respective events:
- Matthew Kosgei put the nation on notice with a 8:22.13 finish and overall win – a time that shattered a UNM program record that had stood since 1977 and ranks No. 16 amongst NCAA performances all-time.
- Not to be outdone, Pamela Kosgei (no relation) followed with an event win of her own on the women’s side – she crossed in 9:15.93, breaking Courtney Frerichs’ program record from 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships (9:24.41) with a performance that now ranks No. 2 on the collegiate all-time list. Behind her, Sophia McDonnell finished third with a new personal best (10:01.17) that ranks No. 7 on the UNM all-time list and will likely qualify her for NCAA Preliminaries once again.
- Next up in the women’s 5,000m, Marion Jepngetich (15:22.80) and Alice Seguin (15:33.10) finished second and sixth in the first section, recording season-opening times that etch their names into the record book at No. 3 and No. 7 on the UNM outdoor all-time list.
- In the fastest section of the men’s 5,000m, Collins Kiprotich opened up his outdoor season in earnest with a 13:25.06 clocking – and new No. 2 UNM All-Time performance – to finish third overall. Iker Sanchez notched a new personal best (13:48.05) to finish third in the third section – 49.45 seconds faster than his 5K XC best of 14:35.5 from last fall.
- In the top men’s heat, Evans Kiplagat posted a new lifetime best in the 10,000m (28:05.98) to move from No. 6 to No. 3 on the UNM All-Time list, finishing 13th ahead of Vincent Chirchir (20th, 28:21.08) who narrowly missed on a PR of his own.
- In the final race of the night, Rikus Van Niekerk (28:25.63) took more than a minute off his previous outdoor 10,000m best (29:50.89) from his time at CBU to finish ninth, with Thomas Termote (28:26.44) taking more than 30 seconds off his lifetime best from the same meet last season (28:58.77) in his return after redshirting the indoor season. Those times move them into the outdoor all-time Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.
- In Saturday’s 800m racing, Judy Rono opened with a new lifetime best in the 800m (2:05.44) to enter the outdoor all-time list at No. 3 and finish second in the third section of the day.
