FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Taniya Looney stunned with a pair of lifetime bests to qualify for NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100m and 200m and Pamela Kosgei and Marion Jepngetich secured their return to the 5,000m Final on the final day of competition at NCAA West Region Preliminaries Saturday at John McDonnell Field.
With the dust settled, three men (Habtom Samuel, Evans Kiplagat and Matthew Endrody) and three women (Pamela Kosgei, Marion Jepngetich, Taniya Looney) will represent New Mexico Track & Field at NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. June 10-13.
With her pair of qualifications on Saturday, Looney became the first woman from New Mexico to advance to NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100m and 200m since Barbara Bell in 1984.
An emotional breakthrough performance in Fayetteville.
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) May 31, 2026
Taniya Looney breaks 11 seconds for the first time in her career with a 10.85 (+2.1) finish to win the second heat and punch her ticket to NCAA Championships! pic.twitter.com/N5IOX3K3R9
Kosgei and Jepngetich – first- and fourth-place finishers in the 5,000m final last season at Hayward – ran second and third in the second heat of semifinals to secure their return trips. Kosgei will double the 5,000m and 10,000m for the second year in a row after winning both titles outdoors last year.
Women’s High Jump - First Round
20. Ajia Hughes - 1.81m / 5-11¼
Hughes sailed above 1.81m after notching a 1.79m mark at MW Outdoor Championships two weeks ago but scratched out shy of her personal best to come up short of returning to the NCAA Outdoor Finals, finishing tied for 10th in her heat and 20th overall.
Women’s 1,500m - Quarterfinal
15. Tilly Simpson - 4:15.29
17. Jasmine Wood - 4:17.06
20. Li-Mari Dekker - 4:19.04
Simpson, Wood and Dekker all finished eighth, ninth and 10th in the second heat of the first 1,500m Quarterfinals race of their careers to wrap up their outdoor seasons, finishing 15th, 17th and 20th overall.
Women’s 100m - Quarterfinal
2. Taniya Looney - 10.85 (+2.1) [Q]
Looney stunned with the first sub-11 second performance of her career to win heat two and advance to NCAA Outdoor Championships in her first year as a Lobo – the junior ran a wind-aided 10.85 – the second-fastest time of quarterfinals and .23 seconds faster than her 11.08 program record in her last 100m race in Clovis two weeks ago – to pull away and ensure she’ll race again in the national semifinals.
1⃣0⃣.8⃣5⃣ 🔥🔥🔥
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) May 31, 2026
Taniya Looney runs sub-11 for the first time to win her Quarterfinals heat and advance to @NCAATrackField Championships! pic.twitter.com/7LZ7MMsixA
Women’s Triple Jump - First Round
37. Ajia Hughes - 12.80m / 42-0 (+2.1)
After wrapping up in the high jump earlier in the day, Hughes returned for the triple jump, bounding 12.80m to finish seventh in her flight and 37th overall.
Women’s 400m - Quarterfinal
13. Eva Ngom - 52.02
Ngom capped an impressive 400m breakthrough season that saw her become the first woman from New Mexico to run below 52 seconds outdoors and win Mountain West 400m and 4x400m titles with a 52.02 clocking to finish as the first woman out of national semifinals. She finished fifth in the second heat, missing out on a time qualifier by just .17 seconds.
Women’s 200m - Quarterfinal
8. Taniya Looney - 22.66 (+2.0) [Q]
Looney completed the double less than two hours after her big 100m breakthrough, running a wind-legal program record of 22.66 to finish third in her heat and eighth overall.
TANIYA STRIKES TWICE ⚡️
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) May 31, 2026
She snags third place in the second heat of the Women's 200m Quarterfinals to become the first woman from New Mexico to qualify for NCAA Championships in both the 100m and 200m since Barbara Bell in 1984! pic.twitter.com/NWdGqKxIR7
Women’s 5,000m - Semifinal
2. Pamela Kosgei - 15:17.63 (Q)
4. Marion Jepngetich - 15:18.05 (Q)
38. Jasmine Wood - 16:40.63
40. Mercy Kirarei - 16:41.10
Pamela Kosgei and Marion Jepngetich worked together to earn a pair of automatic qualifiers in the second semifinal heat, ensuring both will return to the Outdoor 5,000m Final after the duo finished first and fourth overall in 2025.
Women’s 4x400m Relay - Quarterfinal
13. Sofia Pineda, Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer, Hanna Kiess and Eva Ngom - 3:31.86
Sofia Pineda, Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer, Hanna Kiess and Eva Ngom combined for the second-fastest 4x400m relay performance outdoors in program history (3:31.86) to beat out their previous season best by a hundredth of a second – they finished fourth in the opening heat before a lengthy weather delay halted the following heats and extended their wait to find out whether they’d advance based on time.
As it turned out, they would be the fastest team to not advance with the 13th-best time of the day, just half a second shy of 12th-place Montana State (3:31.36).