FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE
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Field Events
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Time
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Track Events
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Time
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Women’s “B” Pole Vault
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3:00 PM
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Men’s Unseeded 200 Meters
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4:00 PM
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Women’s High Jump
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3:30 PM
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Women’s Unseeded 200 Meters
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4:35 PM
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Women’s Long Jump (East Runway)
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4:00 PM
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Men’s Long Jump (West Runway)
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4:00 PM
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Women’s 600 Meters
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6:45 PM
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Men’s “B” Pole Vault
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6:00 PM
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Men’s Invitational 200 Meters
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7:15 PM
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SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE
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Field Events
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Time
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Track Events
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Time
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Women’s Triple Jump (East Runway)
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10:30 AM
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Men’s 60m Hurdle Prelims
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10:00 AM
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Men’s Triple Jump (West Runway)
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10:30 AM
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Women’s 60m Hurdle Prelims
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10:45 AM
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Men’s “A” Pole Vault
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1:00 PM
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Women’s Unseeded 60 Meters
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11:15 AM
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|
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Women’s Invitational 60m Prelims
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11:45 AM
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Men’s 300 Meters
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12:00 PM
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Women’s 300 Meters
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12:15 PM
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Men’s 1 Mile
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12:35 PM
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Women’s 1 Mile
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12:55 PM
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Men’s 60m Hurdle Final^
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1:15 PM
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Women’s 60m Hurdle Final^
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1:25 PM
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Women’s 60 Meters Final^
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2:05 PM
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Men’s 800 Meters
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2:10 PM
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Women’s 800 Meters
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2:30 PM
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Women’s 4×400 Relay
- Badrani,Ngom,Kiess,Quarles
- Lawson,Looney,Shelby,Drebert,Feeney
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3:10 PM
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*Registrations only; not all UNM athletes are guaranteed to compete in all events registered for.
^If athlete advances from prelims.
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HABTOM SAMUEL DOMINATES IN HALF MARATHON DEBUT
Habtom Samuel won the Houston Half Marathon with a new course record in his debut at the distance and UNM alum Calli Thackery won the Women’s Full Marathon to highlight a standout day for Lobos past and present Sunday morning in Houston.
Samuel crossed in 59:01 – the fastest time ever run by any current or former NCAA athlete – to win the Houston Half against a field that included six of the 15 fastest men in American history and the two fastest Canadians all-time. He hasn’t lost a race of any distance since finishing second in the 5,000m final at NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
Samuel's time also ranks as the fourth-fastest half marathon ever ran on American soil.
This is the second year in a row that the race record has been broken. Prior to last year, the record hadn't been broken since 2012.
After Patrick Kiprop of Kenya took an eight-to-nine second lead over a pack of eight behind him that included Samuel, the Eritrean responded with a blistering finish and kept pushing, closing the final stretch at 4:15 mile pace to win by 13 seconds. He averaged a 4:31 mile for the entirety of the race.
In the women’s Marathon race, Lobo Alum Calli Thackery – a 2024 Paris Olympian in the event – won with a 2:24:17 time, her second marathon win in the last month. She won the Honolulu Marathon in 2:30:43 on Dec. 14.
Fellow UNM alum Alice Wright crossed 20th overall in the women’s half marathon as well, finishing in 1:11:04.
SEMESTER ADDITIONS
Taniya Looney
- D-II Runner-Up in the 4x100m at 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships two-time All-American in the 100m and 200m – two-time First Team All-American in the 60m at NCAA Indoor Championships.
- Personal bests of 7.40 (60m), 11.46 (100m) and 23.72 (200m) – her 60m and 100m PB’s are both faster than the current UNM program records.
Lukas Ehrle
- Ole Miss transfer finished 15th at NCAA D-II XC Championships in 2024 with Wingate and touts personal bests of 8:18.89 (3,000m), 14:01.64 (5,000m) and 28:40.22 (10,000m).
- Competed for the Rebels in XC in the fall of 2025, finishing 80th at SEC Championships and traveling to NCAA XC Championships as an alternate.
Ajia Hughes
- Finished ninth in the high jump at 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a new personal best of 1.84m — higher than both the UNM indoor and outdoor records – while competing for Southern Utah.
- Also has competed in the triple jump and long jump with PB’s of 12.40m and 6.10m, respectively.
SAMUEL, KOSGEI NAMED TO BOWERMAN PRESEASON WATCH LIST
New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel and Pamela Kosgei will begin the 2026 indoor season among the frontrunners for The Bowerman – annually awarded to the top athlete in collegiate track and field – after both were named to the award’s preseason watch list released on Wednesday.
It's the first time in UNM history in which both a male and female Lobo athlete open the season on the Bowerman Watch List.
Both athletes are no stranger to the award – Kosgei concluded the 2025 track season as a finalist after sweeping the 5,000m and 10,000m titles outdoors and posting Top-5 all-time collegiate performances in three different events, while Samuel made the watch list multiple times in the last two seasons and made the cut as a semifinalist in 2024. Kosgei was the first Mountain West athlete -- man or woman -- to be named a finalist.
Samuel and Kosgei both rank among the best in the nation in the indoor 5,000m after strong season-opening marks in Boston in December. Samuel leads the nation with a 13:05.21 clocking, while Kosgei ranks third in the nation with a 15:05.41 time – the duo finished second and third in the event at 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships last March.
NCAA XC CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
After two years of close calls, Habtom Samuel finally won an NCAA Cross Country title and New Mexico’s men and women both finished on the team podium for the first time in program history to cap off a historic day at the 2025 NCAA Championships Nov. 22 at Gans Creek Park.
It’s the lowest combined placing between the two teams at NCAA Championships in program history, the second year in a row in which the Lobos accomplished the feat after the women finished seventh and men finished ninth in 2024. Prior to the 2024 NCAA Championships, the Lobos had never put both teams in the Top 10 of the national team score – this year, both finished in the Top 4.
Among 15 programs that qualified both men’s and women’s squads for nationals, UNM is the only one to place both on the team podium.
“To finish as the only NCAA Division I program to double trophy, I mean, it just speaks to New Mexico cross country/track and field and what we’re all about,” said UNM Head Coach Darren Gauson.
"We’re just going to keep our foot on the gas and try and come back and win two [next season]".
Samuel ran a strategic race, hanging near the front of the pack before making a late move to which no other individual could respond as he pulled away down the stretch. He moved up 12 spots with a 2:37.4 kilometer split between the eight- and nine-kilometer marks to take control and didn't look back, exuberantly celebrating as he bounded down the final 100 meters with victory in hand. He ran his final kilometer in 2:44.6, making the final two splits his fastest of the day.
“I’ve been very close — runner-up these past years,” Samuel said after the race. “This was my time.
"I’m really happy. This is God’s plan. Finally, I just made it -- I finished. I got the title to bring to Albuquerque.”
Samuel becomes the first man from New Mexico and the second Mountain West men’s runner to accomplish the feat, joining BYU’s Josh Rohatinsky (30:44:90), who won in 2006. His 10k time of 28:33.9 at the national meet is also the best in conference history, surpassing his marks of 28:40.7 in 2023 and 28:38.9 in 2024.
He's also the third Lobo -- man or woman -- to win an individual cross country title after Ednah Kurgat (2015) and Weini Kelati (2017).
“I have the endurance more than anyone, I can say that,” Samuel said. “I just run very hard. By the time I got to the front, I was just telling myself, I’m going to run hard. I’m gonna break those guys and just keep this fast pace. And I did it. That was the plan.”
Five Lobos – four men and one women – secured Top-40 individual finishes for All-American honors, with Samuel joined by Pamela Kosgei (17th, 19:02.8) on the women’s side and Collins Kiprotich (8th, 28:45.7), Evans Kiplagat (13th, 28:50.7) and Vincent Chirchir (20th, 28:52.8) on the men’s side. They’re the third All-American cross country honors of Samuel and Kiplagat’s careers, the second of Kiprotich’s and the second year in a row with a total of five All-Americans between men and women.
The UNM men finished with 82 points to place second in the nation, breaking a program record for lowest men’s point total that they set at last year’s national meet (272 points). In their first team appearance since 2014 in 2023, they finished 18th with 465 points — they shaved 193 points off of that in 2024 and 190 more off that this year.
The Lobo women returned to the podium with a 216-point total to secure a fourth-place team finish, with all five point-scorers packing into the Top 75 individuals behind Kosgei’s 17th-place performance. Marion Jepngetich (43rd, 19:27.6) and Judy Rono (49th, 19:31.5) both placed among the Top 50 in their first NCAA Championship races, with Alice Seguin (71st, 19:43.0) and Nicola Jansen (73rd, 19:43.6) closing out the scoring.
2025-26 INDOOR SCHEDULE
After the spring semester kicks off, the Lobos open up the Albuquerque Convention Center with the Dr. MLK Jr. Invitational (Jan. 23-24) for their first home meet. For the weekend of Jan. 30-31, the squad splits up between the UNM Team Open at home and the BU Terrier Classic in Boston.
Next up are the New Mexico Collegiate Classic (Feb. 6-7) – a 16-team invitational meet — and the Don Kirby Elite Invitational the following weekend (Feb. 13-14), with another group of UNM athletes heading to Seattle for the Washington Husky Classic on the same dates.
After a quick trip to Notre Dame for the Alex Wilson Invitational – known for its elite Distance Medley Relay competition – on Feb. 26, the Lobos head to Reno for their first Mountain West Championships away from home in a decade.
UNM athletes with marks that rank among the Top 16 declared individuals and relay squads that rank among the Top 12 in NCAA D-I at the conclusion of the season will qualify for NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted at University of Arkansas. Five Lobo athletes qualified for NCAA Indoor Championships last year in Virginia Beach, Va. – Habtom Samuel (3,000m, 5,000m), Ishmael Kipkurui (3,000m, 5,000m), Collins Kiprotich (Mile), Brodie Young (400m) and Pamela Kosgei (5,000m, 3,000m) – Samuel, Kipkurui and Kosgei all earning multiple All-America finishes. All but Kipkurui – who forewent the rest of his collegiate eligibility to sign a pro contract with Nike in the summer – are set to compete for the Lobos again this season.
