ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Following a historic Lobo career capped by four national titles in his junior year, New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel has signed a professional contract with HOKA. The five-time NCAA champion and 13-time First Team All-American joins the professional ranks as the most decorated athlete in UNM cross country and track & field history.
Samuel — who announced his decision to turn professional and forego the rest of his collegiate eligibility over the summer — won national championships in cross country, the indoor 5,000m and both the outdoor 5,000m and 10,000m during a remarkable 2025-26 campaign that culminated in being named as a finalist for The Bowerman. The Keren, Eritrea native became the first Lobo to win NCAA individual titles across all three seasons, adding four crowns to the outdoor 10,000m championship he won as a freshman in 2024.
Previously signed to HOKA under an NIL contract, Samuel will join the HOKA NAZ ELITE team and continue his training in Flagstaff, Ariz. after completing his degree at UNM this semester.
After consecutive national runner-up finishes in his first two cross country seasons, Samuel broke through in November with a 28:33.9 performance to become the first man in UNM history to win an NCAA cross country individual title. The victory capped a season that included wins at the Cowboy Jamboree, Nuttycombe Invitational, Mountain West Championships and NCAA Mountain Region Championships, earning him USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year honors.
He carried that momentum indoors, winning his first NCAA indoor championship in the 5,000m in 13:36.58. Samuel closed the final 200 meters in 26.64 seconds to shake his challengers, becoming the first Lobo to win the event at NCAA Indoors and the first UNM man to claim an indoor national title since Josh Kerr’s mile victory in 2018.
His final collegiate meet provided a fitting finish. Samuel reclaimed the NCAA 10,000m crown in 27:51.31 before returning two nights later to win the 5,000m in 13:38.93, becoming the 15th man in collegiate history — and just the sixth this century — to complete the outdoor distance double. His two victories accounted for all 20 of New Mexico’s points as the Lobo men finished 14th nationally.
The championship performances followed a record-breaking spring in which Samuel became the first collegian to break 13 minutes in the outdoor 5,000m. He went on to become the first men’s finalist for The Bowerman in program history and was named the 2025-26 Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year.
Samuel’s dominance extended throughout his three seasons in Albuquerque. He totaled 12 Mountain West individual titles — three in cross country, six indoors and three outdoors. He swept the conference indoor 3,000m and 5,000m titles in each of his three seasons, won the outdoor 1,500m and 5,000m as a freshman and added another outdoor 5,000m crown in 2026. His third consecutive conference cross country victory in 2025 made him the first athlete, man or woman, to accomplish that feat in Mountain West history.
At the national level, Samuel paired his five NCAA championships with five runner-up finishes: cross country in 2023 and 2024, the indoor 5,000m in 2025 and both the outdoor 5,000m and 10,000m in 2025. His 13 First Team All-America finishes spanned cross country, indoor and outdoor competition, with an additional Second Team honor in the indoor 3,000m in 2025.
Samuel joins a distinguished group of former Lobos to advance to the professional ranks, including Josh Kerr, Courtney Frerichs, Weini Kelati, Alice Wright, Calli Thackery and former teammate Ishmael Kipkurui.