Habtom Samuel Breaks NCAA 5K Record on Day One at Bryan Clay

Habtom Samuel set a new collegiate record in the 5,000m with a 13:05.87 performances and Pamela Kosgei came just .27 seconds from doing the same on the women’s side (14:52.45) as both athletes swept the fastest 5,000m heats of the night at the Bryan Clay Invitational to close out the first day of competition for New Mexico Track & Field at both Long Beach State and Azusa Pacific on Thursday, with the Lobos recording 15 personal bests in total and five other UNM All-Time Top 10 marks between the two meets on the day.

Collegiate 5K Record 🔥

Habtom Samuel ran 13:05.87 to set a new NCAA outdoor 5,000m record at #BryanClay2025. pic.twitter.com/As8uTmlCla

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) April 18, 2025

Taking indoors into account, the only 5,000m times faster in NCAA history than Samuel’s performance on Thursday come from Nico Young, Romain Legendre, Graham Blanks, and Samuel himself — his teammate Ishmael Kipkurui, the NCAA record holder in the 10,000m, finished 2nd in 13:09.24 to move to 4th on the all-time outdoor list behind only Samuel, Abdihamid Nur, and Henry Rono.

Pamela Kosgei came just .27 seconds shy of matching Parker Valby’s collegiate record as she beat out BYU Lexy Halladay-Lowry (14:52.93) for the overall win — she now has posted times that rank among the Top 10 collegiate performances in history in the indoor 3,000m, indoor 5,000m, outdoor 10,000m, outdoor steeplechase and outdoor 5,000m in her freshman year alone.

WOMEN’S OPEN “B” 5,000M
3. Anya Belisle (3rd in H1) – 16:46.41
• PR, first sub-17 minute 5,000m
70. Mia Torrecillas (16th in H1) – 17:30.88
• First collegiate 5,000m

Over in Azusa, Anya Belisle opened with the Lobos’ PB of the day in the Open “B” sections of the women’s 5,000m, breaking 17 minutes for the first time in her career – her second improvement in a row in the event – with a 16:46.41 clocking to finish third in the first heat and first overall ahead of Mia Toerrcillas (17:30.88), who finished 16th in heat one and 70th overall in her first collegiate 5,000m.

WOMEN’S 100-METER HURDLES
36. (7th in H2) Pietra Campbell Simoes – 14.60

Opening up the day in Long Beach for the Lobos’ sprinters and hurdlers, Pietra Campbell Simoes put down a 14.60 time – less than three-tenths of a second shy of her season best from last weekend in UTEP (14.38) – to finish seventh in the second heat and place 36th overall.

WOMEN’S 400 METERS
6. (4th in H1) Sofia Pineda – 55.76

MEN’S 400 METERS
10. (3rd in H3) Kahari Wilbon – 48.72

In her first 400m race of the outdoor season, Sofia Pineda clocked a 55.76 to finish fourth in the top heat and sixth overall on the day – she closed her indoor season with a 54.89 personal best at MW Indoor Championships. Also running his first outdoor 400m race of the year, Kahari Wilbon finished in 48.72, good for third in his heat and 10th overall but .64 seconds shy of his indoor best (48.08).

MEN’S 100 METERS
3. (1st in H2) Cam Watts – 10.31 (+2.8m/s)
• Nullified by wind
19. (6th in H2) Elijah Jefferson – 10.60 (+2.8m/s)
• Nullified by wind

In his first 100m race since breaking the UNM school record in the event last Friday at UTEP, Cam Watts won the second heat and finished third overall with a 10.31 mark nullified by strong 2.8 m/s winds – Elijah Jefferson (10.60) finished sixth in the second heat behind him and 19th overall.

Both Watts and Jefferson already sit in qualifying position for NCAA Regionals and rank No. 1 and No. 3 in the Mountain West in the 100m thanks to a pair of personal bests last Friday (10.24@, 10.42@) Even if Watts hadn’t already run a converted 10.24 last week and today’s result wasn’t scrapped for ranking consideration due to wind, his 10.31 mark today would still lead the Mountain West outdoor list so far this season ahead of CSU’s Tyler Colwell with a 10.32 time that ranks second in the league. Colwell is the only other MW athlete to even run below 10.40 this season.

WOMEN’S 400-METER HURDLES
5. (5th in H1) Hanna Kiess – 59.29
• PR, #4 UNM All-Time

In the women’s 400m hurdles, Hanna Kiess crossed in 59.29 to finish fifth overall – a time that moves her up to No. 4 on the UNM all-time outdoor list. Kiess’ new lifetime best makes it four improvements in a row in the 400mH and back-to-back sub-60 second performances, solidifying her NCAA regional qualifying push with an improvement from her 59.50 time that ranked 35th in the nation heading into this week. In the six times she’s ran the 400 hurdles outdoors since her debut in the event, she’s put down a new personal best five times.

In her 400 hurdles debut (April 11, 2024) at the same Pacific Coast meet just over 12 months ago, Kiess ran a 1:03.25 – she’s taken 3.96 seconds off that mark in the time since.

MEN’S 400-METER HURDLES
4. Levente Soos (3rd H1) – 52.65
5. Jacob Cavanaugh (2nd in H2) – 52.75
• Back-to-back PR’s, first sub-53
6. Semaj Thompson (3rd in H2) – 52.80
• Third PR in a row, first sub-53

On the men’s side, Levente Soos (52.65), Jacob Cavanaugh (52.75) and Semaj Thompson (52.80) all finished under 53 seconds – the first time doing so for Cavanaugh and Thompson, who both notched new personal bests – as the trio finished fourth through sixth overall. Thompson notched a new personal best for the third time in a row after opening with a 59.24, with Cavanaugh recording back-to-back PR’s after shaving four-tenths of a second from his season-opening time (53.15).

WOMEN’S 800 METERS (INVITE)
2. Judy Rono (1st in H15) – 2:03.98
• PR, UNM #2 All-Time
67. Meadow Drebert (1st  in H1) – 2:09.14
• PR
109. Hannah Taylor (7th in H11) – 2:12.00

Judy Rono ran the fastest women’s 800m race by a Lobo since 1976 to finish as the top collegian in the invite sections at Bryan Clay, crossing in 2:03.98 to move from No. 5 to No. 2 on the UNM all-time list. She’s the first Lobo woman to run below 2:05 in the 21st century, outpacing Regina Dramiga’s 2:04.17 converted time from 1982 NCAA Outdoor Championships that had stood unbeaten for more than four decades. That time also would rank Top-5 in the West Region and Top-15 in the nation on the most recent outdoor lists.

Behind her, Meadow Drebert took more than two seconds off her previous best (2:11.20) from April 3 to win the first heat with a 2:09.14 time and finish 67th overall, while Hannah Taylor crossed in 2:12.00 to finish seventh in the 11th section and 109th on the day.

WOMEN’S 200 METERS
2. Lou-Anne Pouzancre (2nd in H1) – 23.70
• Outdoor PR, UNM #5 All-Time
5. Rebecca Grieve (2nd in H2) – 23.97
• Outdoor PR

Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer improved on her season-opening time from last weekend with a 23.70 performance to place second in the women’s 200m, just over a tenth of a second shy of matching her converted lifetime best from the most recent indoor season (23.59) – she moves from No. 8 all-time to No. 5 among UNM women’s 200m performances all-time outdoors.

Rebecca Grieve also shaved .17 seconds off her previous outdoor best and converted season-opening time from El Paso last Friday (24.14@) with a 23.97 finish, good for second in the heat No. 2 and fifth overall. She’s just two-hundredths of a second shy of entering the UNM All-Time Top 10 and .18 seconds from matching her lifetime indoor best from 2025 MWC Indoor Championships (23.79@).

Both 400m specialists, Pouzancre and Grieve will need another improvement to secure their first NCAA Regionals qualifications in the 200m – Thursday’s performances rank just outside the Top 50 in the West Region, where a 23.40 was the last mark to qualify at the conclusion of the 2024 season.

MEN’S 200 METERS
3. Brodie Young – 21.03
• Outdoor PR, UNM #10 All-Time
15. Cam Watts – 21.44
• First Collegiate 200m, Nullified by wind (2.9 m/s)
16. Elijah Jefferson – 21.44

In the men’s 200m – the final event of the day for the Lobos over in Long Beach – Brodie Young led the way with a 21.03 outdoor best that moves him into the UNM All-Time Top 10 at No. 10 and just outside of NCAA Regional qualifying territory. The No. 48 time in the West Region heading into this week was 21.02.

Running his first-ever 200m, Cam Watts posted a 21.44 to finish fourth in the second heat of the day, but his performance was again nullified by strong winds (2.8 m/s). In the fourth heat, Elijah Jefferson posted the same time (21.44) with legal wind to finish second – the duo placed 15th and 16th overall, respectively.

MEN’S OPEN “A” 5,000 METERS, HEAT 1
21. Jayden Hernandez – 14:21.73

WOMEN’S OPEN “A” 5,000 METERS, HEAT 3
19. Millie Freeland – 16:42.45
• PR

WOMEN’S OPEN “A” 5,000M, HEAT 4
7. Jasmine Wood – 16:12.70
• PR

In the Open “A” 5,000m races, Jayden Hernandez finished 21st in the first men’s section with a 14:21.73 clocking, while Millie Freeland (16:42.45) and Jasmine Wood (16:12.70) both notching personal bests in the third and fourth heats. Freeland took 16.77 seconds off her previous best from earlier in April at the Mike Fanelli Classic (16:59.12) to finished 19th in her heat, with Jasmine Wood improving by 25.6 seconds from her lifetime best from May 2024 (16:37.30) to finish seventh in hers.

WOMEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 1
1. Pamela Kosgei – 14:52.45
• NCAA #2 All-Time, UNM & MW Record

Pamela Kosgei came just .27 seconds away from Parker Valby’s collegiate record as she held of BYU’s Lexy Halladay-Lowry down the stretch in the fastest 5,000m of the night to finish in 14:52.45 – the second-fastest performance in collegiate history.

Kosgei now has the fastest 5,000m performance on the national outdoor list and has recorded times that rank among the Top 10 collegiate performances in history in the indoor 3,000m, indoor 5,000m, outdoor 10,000m, outdoor steeplechase and outdoor 5,000m in her freshman year alone.

In the last month alone, Kosgei has ran the second-fastest time in collegiate history in three events — the 10,000m (31:02.73) on March 29, the 3K Steeplechase (9:15.93) on April 5, and the 5,000m on Thursday night.

MEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 1
1. Habtom Samuel – 13:05.87
• NCAA Record, UNM & MW Record, Eritrean National Record
2. Ishmael Kipkurui – 13:09.24
• NCAA #4 All-Time, UNM #2 All-Time
7. Collins Kiprotich – 13:25.64

In their first collegiate competition of the outdoor season after shocking the world with a 1-2 finish with performances that ranked No. 1 and No. 2 all-time in the 10,000m at Sound Running’s THE TEN, Habtom Samuel and Ishmael Kipkurui did not disappoint. In breaking Abdihamid Nur’s NCAA 5k record of 13:06.32 set in 2022, Samuel lowered the outdoor collegiate record to 13:05.87 to win the night and complete a Lobo sweep of the two fastest 5,000m races at Bryan Clay, with Kipkurui (13:09.24) crossing second with a performance that ranks No. 4 among all-time collegiately. Samuel now ranks No. 2 in collegiate history in the 10,000m and No. 1 in the 5,000m — in his first two races outdoors, Kipkurui has now ran the fastest collegiate 10,000m in history and the fourth-fastest 5,000m. He ranks No. 2 in the nation behind Samuel on the most recent national outdoor list.

Behind them, Collins Kiprotich (13:25.64) finished seventh with a time just half a second behind his previous season best from Stanford.

WOMEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 2
12. Brigid Hanley – 16:00.27
• PR
13. Nicola Jansen – 16:01.18

Brigid Hanley finished 12th with a 16:00.27 time – a 24.76-second improvement from her personal best from her time at D-III Emory (16:25.03) just ahead of Nicola Jansen (16:01.18) in 13th – those times will likely secure qualification for NCAA Regional Prelims.

MEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 2
7. Vincent Chirchir – 13:36.11

WOMEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 3
19. Natalie Bitetti – 16:36.39

Vincent Chirchir came just shy of his NCAA-Regional qualifying time from Bryan Clay last year (13:34.14) with a 13:36.11 clocking to finish seventh in the second heat – a time that will likely hold to qualify him again. Natalie Bitetti (16:36.39) finished 19th in the third heat on the women’s side.

MEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 3
5. Rikus Van Niekerk – 13:38.58
• PR, UNM #11 All-Time
6. Thomas Termote – 13:38.99
• PR, UNM #12 All-Time
13. Lukas Kiprop – 13:49.91
• PR

After opening with a pair of UNM All-Time Top 10 marks in the 10,000m at the Stanford Invite earlier in the month, Rikus Van Niekerk (13:38.58) and Thomas Termote (13:38.99) both broke 14 minutes for the first time in their careers in a big way in the third heat – Van Niekerk took 25.03 seconds off his personal best from Bryan Clay in 2023 (14:02.61) and Termote improved by 28.89 seconds from his – a 14:06.88 performance indoors at Boston U in February 2024. Van Niekerk moves into No. 10 on the UNM All-Time Top 10 in the event, with Termote narrowly missing the cut after Ishmael Kipkurui’s entry at No. 2 earlier in the night. The performances ensure both Van Niekerk and Termote can double-qualify for NCAA Regionals in both the 10K and 5K.

Behind them, Lukas Kiprop (13:49.91) posted another personal best of his own to finish 13th – 3.49 seconds faster than his 13:53.40 season-opening time from Stanford. After redshirting last outdoor season due to injury, Kiprop will also likely qualify in the 5,000m for Regionals.

WOMEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 4
8. Sophia McDonnell – 16:12.23
• PR

MEN’S INVITE 5,000M, HEAT 4
2. Iker Sanchez – 13:37.88
• PR, UNM #10 All-Time

In the final races of the night, Iker Sanchez and Sophia McDonnell both closed with two more big PR’s. McDonnel finished eighth in her heat with a 27.59-second PR to cross in 16:12.23, putting her in position to advance to Regionals in both the steeple and 5K after qualifying in the steeple last year.

In the last race of the night that started after midnight MT, Sanchez finished second in 13:37.88 – a 7.17-second improvement – to bump Van Niekerk out of the No. 10 spot on the UNM all-time list.