Lobo Men Finish 5th in Team Score at NCAA Outdoor Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – On the final day of men’s competition at NCAA Outdoor Championships Friday at Hayward Field, New Mexico took home three more First Team All-American trophies for the Lobos’ highest point total (31) in program history, matching their best team finish (5th) for the first time since 1967.
With 18 team points heading into Friday after a 1-2 finish from Ishmael Kipkurui and Habtom Samuel in Wednesday’ 10,000m Final, UNM got three more from Mathew Kosgei (6th, Men’s Steeplechase) and a combined 10 from Samuel (2nd) and Kipkurui (7th) in the Men’s 5,000m Final for a 31-point outing that surpassed a 25-point effort from 1965 for the most in program history. Samuel concludes this week’s competition as the highest-scoring men’s individual in the nation thanks to his two runner-up finishes for a total of 16 points.
Between the men’s and women’s score combined, the Lobos have racked up 41 points to nearly double the previous highest total output in program history, when the women scored 16 points and the men scored six in 2018.
| FINAL MEN’S TEAM SCORE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pl | Men’s Team | Pts |
| 1 | Texas A&M | 41 |
| 1 | USC | 41 |
| 3 | Arkansas | 40 |
| 4 | Auburn | 35 |
| 5 | New Mexico | 31 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 30.5 |
| 7 | Minnesota | 25 |
| 8 | Florida | 22 |
| 8 | Kentucky | 22 |
| 8 | Ole Miss | 22 |
| 11 | BYU | 19 |
| 11 | Oklahoma State | 19 |
| 11 | Oregon | 19 |
| 14 | South Florida | 18 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 18 |
MEN’S 3,000M STEEPLECHASE FINAL
6. Mathew Kosgei – 8:23.70
FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
Mathew Kosgei ran the fastest steeplechase performance at NCAA Outdoor Championships in UNM history with an 8:23.70 finish — nearly 10 seconds faster than the next-fastest from Harrison Koroso (8:33.60) – as he crossed sixth in the final to earn First Team All-American honors for the first time.
Kosgei is the first man from New Mexico to take home All-American honors in the men’s steeplechase since Elmar Engholm placed 14th in 2016 and first to finish in the Top 8 since Ibrahim Hussein (8th) in 1983. His sixth-place finish is the second-highest in program history behind Web Loudat’s third-place finish in 1967, tying with two other Lobo men that finished sixth in the nation previously (Adrian DeWindt, 1968; Harrison Koroso, 1978).
MEN’S 5,000M FINAL
2. Habtom Samuel – 13:20.89
NCAA RUNNER-UP
7. Ishmael Kipkurui – 13:09.24
FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
Samuel ran a controlled race and closed hard over the final seven laps, hanging with the back of the pack early and moving from 14th to second over the seventh and eighth laps before closing the final 400m in 55.90 seconds to finish just three-tenths of a second behind Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau (13:20.59). His 16 total points were the most of any male individual this week – more than all but 16 men’s teams in the field.
They’re the first pair of Lobo men to earn First Team All-America honors in the same year in the 5,000m in program history.
After his sixth-place finish as a true freshman in 2024, Samuel is only the second two-time All-American in the 5K in program history (Bill Mangan, 1987 & 1989) and the first to do it in back-to-back years. With the ninth First Team All-American finish of his career, he has now surpassed Alice Wright for the most of any UNM athlete across cross country, indoor and outdoor.