11 Lobos Lace Up for NCAA Outdoor Championships

11 New Mexico Track & Field athletes – three men and eight women – head to Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. this week as the Lobos hunt for hardware at NCAA Outdoor Championships June 11-14.

The Lobos’ 11 NCAA Championship qualifiers are the second-most in program history and most since a 28-athlete showing in 2011. In the final USTFCCCA National Rankings of the year, the Lobo men clocked in among the Top 10 in the nation for the ninth week in a row at No. 8, with the women remaining in the Top 25 at No. 23 in the nation.

Last season, Habtom Samuel was UNM’s lone representative at track’s biggest stage, winning his first NCAA title in the 10,000m and finishing sixth in the 5,000m. This year, Samuel is joined by two other 5K/10K double qualifiers – Ishmael Kipkurui on the men’s side and Pamela Kosgei for the women. Both will be making their second NCAA Championship finals appearances after both qualifiers for NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3 and 5K.

The trio all enter this week among the frontrunners in both races – Samuel is on the hunt for a second outdoor 10,000m title while Kipkurui and Kosgei both chase their first individual wins after record-breaking freshman campaigns.

Kosgei has run the second-fastest 5,000m (14:52.45) and 10,000m performances (31:02.73) in NCAA history, and her 5K PR is less than half a second away from Parker Valby’s collegiate record. Kipkurui and Samuel own the No. 1 and No. 2 10,000m performances in collegiate history, with Samuel ranking No. 1 all-time in the 5,000m (13:05.87) and Kipkurui fourth behind him (13:09.24).

Among other entries:

• WOMEN’S 4X400M RELAY: The first UNM women’s 4x400m to qualify for NCAA Championships in program history, comprised of Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer, Rebecca Grieve, Hanna Kiess and Sofia Pineda – the quartet has combined for the two fastest 4x400m relay performances in program history this season and beat out Texas at West Region Prelims the punch their tickets to Eugene.
• JUDY RONO IN THE 1,500M: Rono broke the UNM program record in the 1,500m Quarterfinals in College Station to advance to Eugene with her 4:09.07 time – she’ll likely need another improvement to advance to Saturday’s final, entering the week with the 10th-fastest time in her heat and 21st in the nation.
• SOPHIA MCDONNELL IN THE 3K STEEPLECHASE: McDonnell has finally made it all the way to national semifinals for the first time in her final season of collegiate competition – the senior has posted back-to-back sub-10 performances after breaking the 10-minute barrier for the first time in her career at Mountain West Championships, doing so with a 9:57.14 finish to qualify in significantly more difficult conditions with hot temperatures and humidity in the air in College Station.
• MARION JEPNGETICH IN THE 5,000M: Jepngetich has advanced to her first NCAA Championship final after a strong effort in College Station – her 15:22.80 season best ranks No. 4 on the UNM all-time list and ninth in the nation.
• MATHEW KOSGEI IN THE 3K STEEPLECHASE: Kosgei (no relation to Pamela Kosgei) holds the No. 2 time in the NCAA in his specialty event (8:22.13) and has breezed to individual wins in all three of his steeple races this year – he won his heat in College Station by 14.19 seconds to set a new facility record and finish with the top time of NCAA Prelims.

Both teams are now in position to score enough team points at NCAA Outdoor Championships to potentially finish in the Top 10 depending on how things shake out – the most recent NCAA Formchart projections from DyeStat have New Mexico tied for sixth in the men’s team score with 30 points, with the women just outside of the Top 10.

All of this week’s competition will be available to stream via ESPN+ and broadcast via ESPNU. Head to GoLobos.com/FollowTrack for all of this week’s live results and streaming links and follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.

NCAA Outdoor Championships
June 11-14 | Hayward Field | Eugene, Ore.

“CHAMPIONS WEAR TURQUOISE”

More than just a color. More than just a team.

Ready to write another chapter in the Legacy of Turquoise.#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/KwcfQoUiww

— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) June 10, 2025

It was 2011 when UNM first donned turquoise at NCAA Championships, an idea hatched by former UNM Head Coach Joe Franklin at the time. In their first iteration, the uniforms were originally white and dip-dyed by hand — three times, to be exact— in order to reach the proper turquoise color. The Lobos didn’t get officially printed turquoise uniforms for nationals until after they won their first women’s NCAA team Championship in 2015.

More than a decade later, wearing turquoise has become both a privilege and a tradition that honors the state of New Mexico that the Lobos represent. Only UNM athletes that reach the NCAA Championship race in cross country or qualify for NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championships wear turquoise — the color is meant to be earned and worn with pride.

THE RISE OF HABTOM SAMUEL
Read more about the unrelenting will — and obstacle-laden journey — that has taken sophomore Habtom Samuel to new heights ahead of his second NCAA Outdoor Championship appearance.

GAUSON INKS FIVE-YEAR EXTENSION AFTER BIG SECOND YEAR
University of New Mexico Vice President/Director of Athletics Fernando Lovo has announced that Head Cross Country/Track & Field Coach Darren Gauson has received a five-year contract that will keep Gauson at the helm of UNM’s nationally ranked programs through the 2029-30 season.

“Darren has elevated every aspect of our program,” said Lovo. “In just two years, he’s built a championship culture and a team that consistently performs on the national stage. His leadership, vision, and ability to develop talent are exactly what we look for. Securing Coach Gauson was a top priority. He embodies what we’re about: excellence and championships.”

Gauson in just two seasons at UNM has won five Mountain West Coach of the Year Awards, being named Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in both 2023 and 2024, Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2024 and both Women’s Indoor and Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2025.  In that span, his teams have won five Mountain West titles, four of which have come this year.

That included UNM’s first Mountain West title in women’s outdoor track and field, a win which clinched the first sweep of all three women’s titles in UNM history.

“I am very appreciative of President Stokes, the Board of Regents, and Athletic Director Fernando Lovo for their amazing support of Lobo Cross Country and Track & Field,” said Gauson. “Sustained excellence is only possible when there is clear alignment and strong support—qualities that are firmly in place at the University of New Mexico. It is a tremendous honor to serve this program and I am eager to bring future championships to our great state. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Amy Beggin and my dedicated staff for their invaluable contributions. I look forward to continuing to build championship-caliber teams alongside them.”

In his two seasons with UNM, Gauson has coached eight All-Americans in cross country including three runner-up finishes, along with 11 All-Americans in indoor and outdoor track and field to go with one national champion and one runner-up. That number will likely increase as UNM heads to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships next week.  UNM qualified 11 student-athletes into the field, second only to Harvard among non-P4 institutions, and tied for the second-most all-time at UNM.  UNM ranks tied for 28th among the 68 Power-4 conference schools in terms of total qualifying student-athletes.

The 11 qualifiers came after sending a whopping 27 to the NCAA West Regionals, up from 12 a year ago. In the 2024-25 academic year alone, New Mexico athletes set 22 new program records with 58 performances that rank among the Top 10 in program history – among them, eight performances ranked among the Top 5 in collegiate history.

In 2024-25, the Lobo cross country teams both finished in the national Top 10 for the first time in school history, with the women’s team finishing seventh and the men’s team finishing ninth. In both the men’s and women’s races, UNM had the national runner-up, including a miraculous finish by Habtom Samuel, who ran much of the race in Wisconsin on a frozen track with just one shoe after losing it halfway through the race.

UNM’s men’s point total of 272 in that 2024 race was the lowest in program history.

The Lobos’ sweep of the men’s and women’s cross country titles were the first for UNM – and in the Mountain West – since 2014.  UNM’s Pamela Kosgei was a finalist for the Honda Sports Award, recognizing the best student-athlete in cross country.  At different points this season, Kosgei, Habtom Samuel and Ishmael Kipkurui have all been named to the Bowerman Watch List, awarded to the top track & field athlete in the country.

LOBO TRIO RANKED AMONG TOP 25 NCAA TRACK STARS
In NCAA Track & Field’s Top 25 D-I Both-Genders All-Events rankings released three weeks ago from Stan Becton, Habtom Samuel (No. 5), Ishmael Kipkurui (No. 6) and Pamela Kosgei (No. 8) all cracked the Top 10.

LOBOS VS. THE WORLD
Entering this week, the Lobos have seen three different athletes post world-leading marks in three events – Pamela Kosgei (9:15.63) and Matthew Kosgei (8:22.13) led the world in women’s and men’s steeplechase, with Ishmael Kipkurui’s 26:50.21 NCAA-record performance 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 ranked No. 2 in the world.

HANNA KIESS KEEPS CLIMBING
400 hurdler Hanna Kiess – a walk-on who joined the team ahead of last indoor season – has posted a new personal best in eight of her last 10 races dating back to her first outdoor season in 2024, climbing up the UNM all-time list in the process.

In her very first 400 meter Hurdle race of the season she clipped off a 59.50 which moved her up to fourth-fastest all-time at UNM– she followed two weeks later with another PB (59.29) and the next day grabbed another PB (58.73) at two different meets at Long Beach State. That performance moved her to #3 all-time at UNM before another PB (58.40) that moved her up to #2 all-time. In MW prelims, she easily advanced to the final with a 59.27 – still the ninth-fastest time in Lobo history. In the five-decade history of Lobo women’s track (1975-present) there had only been seven athletes who ever dipped under the 60.00 threshold in the 400 meter Hurdles – of those seven, one was her coach, Kyra Mohns.

In the final, Kiess produced yet another stunning improvement, holding off a Colorado State athlete down the stretch to finish as runner-up with a 58.03 performance that moved her up to No. 30 in the West Region and ensured she’ll get to race at least once more this year in addition to running a leg of the women’s 4x400m relay.

That 58.03 time broke a UNM record held by Shannon Vessup (58.10) that had stood untouched since 1984 and Kiess improved on it further at NCAA West Regional Prelims, becoming the first Lobo woman to run below 58 seconds with a 57.70 personal best in College Station. Less than two hours later, she ran the fastest 4x400m relay leg of her career to help UNM’s relay advance to Eugene.

JUDY RONO’S STOCK IS RISING
Judy Rono now owns the fastest time in UNM history in the 1,500m (4:09.07) after taking more than two seconds off her previous best (4:11.45) from Bryan Clay to advance on time. Rono and the previous 1,500m program record holder Abbe Goldstein are the only Lobo women to run below 4:12 in school history. Rono is now a two-time MW Champion in the 800m, winning gold in both indoor and outdoor in her first collegiate season. 

Rono improved on her season best as she took home MW gold in the 800m in Clovis, clocking a 2:03.91 time that stands as the second-fastest 800m in program history and fastest by a Lobo woman since 1976 (2:03.98). She also showed some range later in the same day, posting a 5,000m PR as part of a 30-point effort for the Lobo women in the event, posting a 16:11.64 to finish fourth.

RANKINGS CHECK-IN
After both the UNM men and women stayed ranked among the Top 30 in the nation for all six USTFCCCA TFRI rankings of the indoor season, both teams cracked the Top 10 in the same weekly ranking for the first time in program history this year and have both remained in the 

The UNM men remain at No. 8  – their ninth week in a row in the Top 10 – after rising matching a program-best with a No. 6 national ranking in Week #4 and Week #9. Their previous best was No. 18 in the final week of the 2011 season.

Likewise, the UNM women remained in the Top 25 for the ninth week in a row, coming in at No. 23 this week. In the time since they clocked in at No. 7 in the nation in the final regular-season ranking of the 2019 season, the Lobo women had only cracked the Top 10 as a team once until Week 2’s No. 8 ranking, coming in at No. 9 in the nation in Week 4 in 2022.

UNM MEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 10 USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS

• National Rank: No. 8 (–)
• Mountain Region Rank: No. 4 (–)
• Mountain West Conference Rank: No. 2 (–)

UNM WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 10 USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS

• National Rank: No. 23 (–)
• Mountain Region Rank: No. 5 (-1)
• Mountain West Conference Rank: No. 1 (–)

UNM MEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 8 USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS (Top 100 only)

• Men’s 100m – No. 25
• Men’s 200m – No. 63
• Men’s 1,500m – No. 15
• Men’s 5,000m – No. 1
• Men’s 10,000m – No. 1
• Men’s 400m Hurdles – No. 13

UNM WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD – WEEK 8 USTFCCCA #EVENTSQUAD RANKINGS (Top 100)

• Women’s 200m – No. 60
• Women’s 400m – No. 17
• Women’s 800m – No. 42
• Women’s 1,500m – No. 14
• Women’s 5,000m – No. 2
• Women’s 10,000m – No. 2
• Women’s Steeplechase – No. 7
• Women’s Pole Vault – No. 32