Lobo XC Kicks Off 2025 Season at Lori Fitzgerald Open

New Mexico Cross Country heads south for its annual 5K rust-buster at New Mexico State’s Lori Fitzgerald Open in Las Cruces, N.M. on Saturday, with the Lobo men and women both entering the 2025 season with Top-Five national rankings and increased expectations after both squads finished in the Top 10 in the nation last fall.

It’s the third season in a row in which UNM runs at the Lori Fitzgerald Open to begin the cross country season.

Saturday’s action will begin with the women’s 5K at 7:30 a.m., followed by the men’s 5K at 8 a.m. No stream will be available, with live results for the race at GoLobos.com/XCResults. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on IG and X for raceday updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN (WEST) ONCE AGAIN
After opening up the season ranked among the Top Five teams in the nation in the USTFCCCA’s preseason lists, New Mexico Men’s and Women’s Cross Country have both been voted to repeat as Mountain West Champions in the 2025 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, the league announced on Wednesday.

In the women’s poll, the Lobos received 11 first-place votes for a total of 121 points, with Boise State (111 points) receiving the other first-place vote to rank second. The UNM men also received all but one first-place vote with nine in total, good for 81 points ahead of second-place Boise State (61 points). This year, the league expands to 12 women’s teams and 10 men’s teams with the addition of Grand Canyon for the 2025-26 academic year.

It’s the first time the Lobos have swept the No. 1 spot in both the men’s and women’s polls in back-to-back years since 2015 — they were picked to win the men’s and women’s team titles last year and made good on the elevated expectations, sweeping both the individual and team titles at 2024 MW Championships in Colorado Springs. Both squads went on to crack the Top 10 in the nation at NCAA Championships, with the women finishing seventh and the men finishing ninth.

It’s the seventh time this 2011 that UNM has been picked to win both titles.

The UNM women had their unprecedented streak of 14 consecutive Mountain West titles snapped with a fourth-place finish at conference championships in 2023 but have now won 15 of the last 16 conference titles after returning to their winning ways in 2024. The men are looking for their third-straight conference crown after winning the team title in each of Gauson’s first two years as head coach (2023-24) — prior to then, they hadn’t won the conference since 2014.

TOP-FIVE PRESEASON RANKINGS
New Mexico will open the 2025 cross country season with both men and women ranked in the Top Four in the nation for the first time in program history, with the men ranked No. 2 and the women at No. 4 in the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches’ Poll released on Tuesday.

It’s the highest ranking in program history for the men and the highest for the women since the final poll of 2022, when they were ranked No. 2 in the nation. It’s the ninth time in program history that the UNM women are ranked among the Top 4 in the nation in the preseason poll. In Monday’s regional rankings, the two squads were both projected as automatic team qualifiers for NCAA Championships, with the men at No. 1 in the Mountain Region for the first time in program history and the women at No. 2.

The UNM men’s No. 2 ranking comes courtesy of a wealth of proven returners – the Lobos return 2023 and 2024 individual runner-up Habtom Samuel as well as fellow XC All-Americans Collins Kiprotich and Evans Kiplagat. One of the favorites to win an individual titles in 2025, Samuel hit another level on the track in the spring, lowering his PRs to 13:04.92 for 5k and 26:51.06 for 10K – UNM also touts five other returners that ran below 13:40 for 5K during the track season and brings in steeplechase All-American Mathew Kosgei for an even deeper squad than in 2024-25, when they finished ninth in the nation in 2024 at XC Championships and fifth in the team score at Outdoor Championships.

Opening the season at No. 4 after finishing seventh in the nation at XC Nationals, the Lobo women are led by Pamela Kosgei, who finished as national runner-up as a true freshman before winning both the outdoor 5,000m and 10,000m titles over an undefeated outdoor season. They also return 2024 All-American Mercy Kirarei (35th in the nation) and 2023 All-American Nicola Jansen after she redshirted cross country last year among four athletes from last year’s squad that competed at nationals. Outdoor 5,000m All-American Marion Jepngetich also will run cross country for the first time.

COACH GAUSON’S LENGTHY RESUME

Heading into his third year at the helm in Albuquerque, Head Coach Darren Gauson has accumulated quite a resume:

• 2025 USTFCCCA MEN’S & WOMEN’S MOUNTAIN REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
• 5-TIME MOUNTAIN WEST COACH OF THE YEAR
• 5 MOUNTAIN WEST TEAM TITLES (2023 MXC, 2024 MXC, 2024 WXC, 2025 WITF, 2025 WOTF)
• 25 PROGRAM RECORDS
• 29 ALL-AMERICAN TROPHIES (1st or 2nd Team)
• 4 MOUNTAIN REGION ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
  • Habtom Samuel (XC 2023 + 2024)
  • Pamela Kosgei (XC 2024 + Outdoor 2025)
• 4 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
  • Habtom Samuel (10K 2024)
  • Pamela Kosgei (10K + 5K 2025)
  • Ishmael Kipkurui (10K 2025)
• ONLY PROGRAM IN NCAA D-1 TO FINISH IN THE TOP 10 FOR BOTH MEN AND WOMEN AT XC + NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2024-25
  • Women – 7th XC, 9th Outdoors
  • Men – 9th XC, 5th Outdoors

LAST TIME IN LAS CRUCES
New Mexico Men’s Cross Country packed all five competitors into the overall Top 10 to win the Lori Fitzgerald Open in its first rust-buster of the 2024 season, with the Lobo women finishing fourth behind a runner-up finish from Tina Nisoli.

Lobo newcomer Iker Sanchez (14:35.47) placed third to lead five Lobos that cracked the overall Top 10 in the men’s 5K race to secure the win with 27 points – behind him, Vincent Chirchir (14:36.12), Rikus Van Niekirk (14:37.94) and Lukas Kiprop (14:39.12) finished fourth through sixth in succession, with true freshman Corne De Fouw (14:47.64) also cracking the Top 10 with a ninth-place finish in his collegiate debut.

The UNM men outpaced second-place Texas Tech – who’s Top 5 runners combined for 35 points – for the win, with both programs boatracing the rest of a field that also included Arizona (4th, 125 points), UTEP (5th, 146 points) and host New Mexico State (6th, 178 points)

In the women’s 5K, UNM finished with 101 total points in the team score – Tina Nisoli (17:22.0) was the second-fastest finisher of the day, with freshman Anya Belisle (9th, 18:08.76) joining her in the Top 10. Nisoli’s time was 17.7 seconds faster than her previous cross country 5K personal best.

Stefana Purkovic (25th, 18:51.76) followed with a 5K personal best of her own and Maleah Goldie (30th, 19:06.84) and Hannah Taylor (35th, 19:19.81) comprised the rest of UNM’s point-scorers on the women’s side, with Sylvia Schwedler (36th, 19:21.35), Lyla Fedio (44th, 19:43.71) and Fiona Holloway (19:57.45) rounding things out to keep all eight runners in the Top 50 overall. Belisle, Taylor, Schwedler, Fedio and Holloway were all making their collegiate debuts.