After leading the Lobos with a pair of third-place finishes against ranked competition at the Cowboy Jamboree last Friday, New Mexico’s Collins Kiprotich has been named Mountain West Men’s Athlete of the Week and Marion Jepngetich has been named MW Women’s Freshman and Athlete of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s USTFCCCA National Polls, the Lobo men clocked in at No. 3 in the nation with the women at No. 5 – the two teams remain in automatic qualifying position for NCAA Championships at No. 1 and No. 2 in the Mountain Region respectively. It's now three polls in a row -- dating back to the 2025 preseason poll -- in which both squads rank among the Top 5 in the nation.
In FloTrack's collegiate XC rankings also released on Tuesday, the UNM men ranked No. 2 with the Women at No. 6 -- Habtom Samuel is ranked No. 1 among the nation's individual men with Pamela Kosgei at No. 2 in the nation for women.
In his season debut, Kiprotich led the Lobo men to a second-place team finish at the Cowboy Jamboree with a third-place individual finish (23:38.0) -- one of three Lobos to crack the individual top 5 along with Vincent Chirchir (4th) and Evans Kiplagat (5th).
The UNM men finished with 41 points in total, just five points behind No. 3 Oklahoma State (36 points). The Lobos beat out two ranked teams – No. 10 Oregon and No. 29 Tulsa – along with an Oklahoma squad that was receiving votes in last week’s poll.
A 2025 Outdoor All-American in the 5,000m, Jepngetich anchored a third-place team finish for the Lobo women against ranked competition with a Top-3 finish in her first collegiate XC race at Cowboy Jamboree, crossing third overall in 20:15.8.
The Lobo women packed all five point-scorers into the overall Top 20 to score a total of 65 points behind No. 1 BYU (34 points) and No. 13 Oklahoma State (57 points).
UP NEXT
The Lobos get a break from competition ahead of a loaded Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisc. on Oct. 17, traditionally the most prestigious regular-season cross country meet of the collegiate season. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on IG, X and Facebook for raceday updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.