FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE (NEW MEXICO TEAM OPEN)
FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE (BU TERRIER CLASSIC)
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE (NEW MEXICO TEAM OPEN)
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE (BU TERRIER CLASSIC)
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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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EYES ON 2026
The Lobos enter the spring semester with higher aspirations after a historic year in 2025. In total, UNM won women's indoor and outdoor Mountain West titles -- their first sweep of all three conference titles for the women in program history -- and finished second in the men's team score at both, sending five athletes to NCAA Indoor Championships and 12 more to NCAA Outdoors, where Pamela Kosgei (5,000m & 10,000m) and Ishmael Kipkurui (10,000m) both won NCAA titles to lead a fifth-place finish for the men and ninth for the women.
In November, New Mexico had its most complete team performance at NCAA XC Championships in recent memory – the men finished as national runners-up behind Habtom Samuel’s individual title and the women finished fourth, making UNM the only program in the nation with both teams on the national podium. They've now finished in the Top 10 in the team score nationally for both men and women in their last two NCAA Championships (2025 NCAA Outdoor, 2025 Cross Country) with at least one national champion in both.
LAST WEEKEND’S HIGHLIGHTS (Dr. MLK Jr. Invitational, Jan. 23-24)
- Matthew Endrödy stole the show with a sub-four minute performance (3:58.85 / 3:53.65@) to win the men’s mile, moving to No. 2 all-time at UNM and No. 3 nationally after altitude conversions — a highly probable NCAA Indoor Championships qualifier that stands as the sixth-fastest ever ran at the ABQ Convention Center. His previous best in the mile was 4:11.95.
- Rebecca Grieve rewrote the record books, setting a new UNM program record in the women’s 300m (37.11) and adding the fastest 200m opener of her career (23.87@) to cap a dominant weekend.
- Brodie Young delivered two elite performances outside of his regular 400m wheelhouse, winning the men’s 300m (33.05) — the second-fastest time in program history behind his own UNM record — and opening his season with a Top-100 national mark in the invitational 200m (21.33@).
- Tilly Simpson made it a Lobo sweep of the MLK Mile races, winning the women’s mile in 4:41.43 / 4:35.50@ (No. 6 all-time at UNM) and doubling back less than two hours later for a converted PB in the 800m. She and second-place finisher Jasmine Wood now both rank among the Top 20 in the nation in the mile.
- Ajia Hughes made an immediate impact in her Lobo debut, clearing 1.79m in the high jump — the best mark by a UNM woman since 2018 — ranking No. 3 all-time and projecting inside the national Top 50.
- Depth on display across the sprints, with multiple Top-10 all-time performances from Grieve, Kahari Wilbon, Eva Ngom, Sofia Pineda and Laylah Lawson across the 60m, 200m and 300m events.
- Cameron Miller stacked PRs all weekend, including a 15.28m personal best to finish second in the men’s triple jump and a 6.96m lifetime best in the long jump.
HABTOM BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT IN N.Y.C.
After a splashy win in his Half Marathon debut two weeks ago in Houston, Habtom Samuel is back to another high-profile international race when he takes on the two-mile distance for the first time in his career at the Millrose Games.
Josh Kerr’s 8:00.67 Two Mile world record is very likely in jeopardy, with multiple men expected to break the eight-minute mark. The entry list includes:
- The indoor two-mile world record holder (Josh Kerr)
- The indoor 3000m world record holder (Grant Fisher)
- The indoor 5000m world record holder (Grant Fisher)
- The 5000m World champion (Cole Hocker)
- The 3000m steeplechase World champion (George Beamish)
- 4 of the top 7 fastest indoor two-mile runners in history
- 8 of the top 24 fastest indoor 3000m runners in history
- The Olympic gold and silver medalist in the 1500m from the 2024 Olympics
- 3 finalists from the 10,000m final at the 2025 World Championships
- 3 finalists from the 5000m final at the 2025 World Championships
- 2 finalists from the 1500m final at the 2025 World Championships
Samuel will aim to break Henry Rono’s collegiate record of 8:18.3 in the event that has stood since 1978 – the UNM record is a converted 8:27.5 from George Scott at the 1967 NCAA Indoor Championship (8:37.8 on a 160-yard board track).
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.
