After a dominant win in the fastest 5,000m race in the country at the Boston U Opener last Saturday, Habtom Samuel has been named USTFCCCA Men's D1 National Athlete of the Week, the association announced Monday.
It's the third National AOTW honor of Samuel's career and second this year -- he was named XC Athlete of the Week in October after winning the Nuttycombe Invitational title.
Fresh off his first XC National title on Nov. 22 in Columbia, Samuel withstood a late push to beat out Villanova’s Marco Langon at the finish line by just a thousandth of a second and win the “Elite” Men’s 5,000m as both crossed in 13:05.21 – just .29 seconds behind Samuel’s personal best of 13:04.92 set in February on the same track.
INSANE final lap from Habs 🤯
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) December 6, 2025
He wins the fastest race of the night by a 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘁𝗵 of a second! pic.twitter.com/tYwrMk41Pr
That time stands as the fastest in the nation heading into winter break -- Samuel remains undefeated in races during the 2025-26 academic year.
Samuel now holds the fifth- and sixth-fastest individual 5,000m performances in collegiate history indoors (per USTFCCCA standards) – he and Harvard alum Graham Blanks are the only two athletes with multiple performances inside the all-time Top 10.