Who’s ready to see a whole lot more of Coach Gauson? 👀🔜#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/h8KZOmbMZR
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) June 4, 2025
Darren Gauson was named New Mexico’s head track & field and cross country coach on June 30, 2023. Through his first three seasons in Albuquerque, he has guided the Lobos to nine NCAA individual championships and nine Mountain West team titles, earning nine Mountain West Coach of the Year awards.
Under Gauson, New Mexico has reached new heights across all three seasons of competition. In 2025-26, the Lobos finished fourth in both the men’s and women’s USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, their best combined showing in program history. UNM placed both cross country teams on the NCAA podium for the first time and finished among the nation’s top 20 in both men’s and women’s team scoring at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships for the second year in a row.
The Lobo women swept the Mountain West cross country, indoor and outdoor team championships in both 2024-25 and 2025-26, becoming the first women’s program in the conference to accomplish the feat in consecutive years since BYU in 2004 and 2005. Gauson has also guided the first two Bowerman finalists in UNM history: Pamela Kosgei in 2025 and Habtom Samuel in 2026.
| Mountain West Men’s Cross Country Champions – 2023, 2024, 2025 |
| Mountain West Women’s Cross Country Champions – 2024, 2025 |
| Mountain West Women’s Indoor Track & Field Champions – 2025, 2026 |
| Mountain West Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Champions – 2025, 2026 |
| USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year — 2025 |
| USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year – 2025 |
| USTFCCCA Mountain Region Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year – 2025, 2026 |
| Mountain West Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year – 2023, 2024, 2025 |
| Mountain West Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year – 2024, 2025 |
| Mountain West Women’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year – 2025, 2026 |
| Mountain West Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year – 2025, 2026 |
| 2024-25 |
Gauson’s third season produced five NCAA individual titles, 15 First Team All-America performances and four Mountain West team championships. The Lobos finished fourth in both USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, which recognize combined success at the NCAA cross country, indoor and outdoor championships. The finish was the best in program history for the men and the highest for the women since 2019.
In cross country, UNM swept the Mountain West men’s and women’s team and individual titles for the second straight season. Habtom Samuel captured his third consecutive conference individual championship, while Pamela Kosgei repeated as women’s champion. Twelve Lobos earned All-Mountain West recognition, and Gauson received both conference Coach of the Year awards. The Lobos followed with their first sweep of the NCAA Mountain Region team titles since 2010. The men scored a program-record-low 37 points for their first regional championship in 15 years, while the women scored 45 to defeat top-ranked BYU. All five scorers on each team earned All-Region honors.
At the NCAA Championships in Columbia, Mo., Samuel became the first man in UNM history to win an individual cross country national title, covering 10 kilometers in 28:33.9. His victory led the men to a program-best runner-up finish with 82 points, while the women placed fourth with 216. New Mexico was the only school to put both teams on the podium. Collins Kiprotich (eighth), Evans Kiplagat (13th) and Vincent Chirchir (20th) joined Samuel as men’s All-Americans, with Kosgei placing 17th on the women’s side. Gauson was subsequently named USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
On the track, the women successfully defended their Mountain West indoor championship with 165 points, while the men finished second with 122. Samuel and Kosgei swept the men’s and women’s 3,000m and 5,000m titles, and Matthew Endrödy won both the 800m and mile. Gauson earned his second consecutive MW Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year award as a result.
Five Lobos advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships, where Samuel won the 5,000m to become the first UNM athlete to claim NCAA titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor competition.
Kosgei finished second in the 3,000m and third in the 5,000m, Marion Jepngetich placed third in the 3,000m and Endrödy finished sixth in the mile. Those five First Team All-America performances helped the women tie for 10th nationally with 20 points and the men tie for 19th with 13. Samuel and Kosgei also swept the Mountain West’s indoor student-athlete of the year awards.
The women completed their second consecutive conference triple crown with a program-record 190 points at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships. The men placed fourth with 107 points, and UNM won 11 events across the two squads, including both 4x400m relays. Gauson collected his ninth Mountain West Coach of the Year award in three seasons.
New Mexico sent 26 athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary meet and advanced six to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Samuel won the 5,000m and 10,000m in Eugene, giving him four NCAA titles during the academic year and five in his collegiate career. Jepngetich added her first national title in the women’s 5,000m, completing a UNM sweep of that event and giving the Lobos three outdoor national titles for the second straight year. Kosgei finished second in the 10,000m and fifth in the 5,000m.
The women tied for 12th with 22 points, and the men finished 14th with 20. The outdoor season also featured a collegiate 5,000m record from Samuel, who ran 12:57.22 and became UNM’s first men’s finalist for The Bowerman. Gauson earned USTFCCCA Mountain Region Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season, while Samuel and Jepngetich received the region’s men’s and women’s track athlete awards. Samuel added USTFCCCA National Men’s Outdoor Scholar Track Athlete of the Year recognition, becoming the first Lobo man to earn that honor.
| 2024-25 |
In Gauson’s second year at the helm, the Lobos reached new heights on the national stage for both men and women. They won four Mountain West titles – including the first sweep of women’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field team titles in program history – and finished in the Top 10 nationally for men & women at both NCAA XC and Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with Ishmael Kipkurui (10,000m) and Pamela Kosgei (5,000m & 10,000m) winning individual national titles outdoors.
At NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Lobo women finished 7th and the men finished 9th, making UNM one of just three schools in the nation with both teams finishing in the Top 10 alongside NAU and BYU. Habtom Samuel repeated as national runner-up despite losing a shoe halfway through the race and Pamela Kosgei finished as national runner-up on the women’s side – both earned USTFCCCA Mountain Region Athlete of the Year honors following the conclusion of the season.
At the conclusion of the indoor season, UNM qualified five athletes for NCAA Indoor Championships – Brodie Young (400m), Collins Kiprotich (Mile), Ishmael Kipkurui (3,000m; 5,000m), Habtom Samuel (3,000m; 5,000m) and Pamela Kosgei (3,000m; 5,000m). Samuel (2nd, 5,000m) and Kosgei (3rd, 5,000m) both took home First Team All-America honors.
During the outdoor regular season, Ishmael Kipkurui broke the NCAA collegiate record in the 10,000m at Sound Running’s THE TEN (26:50.21), Habtom Samuel broke the collegiate 5,000m record (13:05.87) and Pamela Kosgei ran the second-fastest 5,000m (14:52.45) and 10,000m performances (31:02.73) in NCAA history.
At NCAA West Region Preliminaries, 11 Lobos qualified for NCAA Outdoor Championships – the second-most in program history and most since a 28-athlete showing in 2011.
In addition to national titles from Pamela Kosgei (5,000m,10,000m) and Ishmael Kipkurui (10,000m), Mathew Kosgei (6th, 3,000m Steeplechase), Habtom Samuel (2nd, 5,000m & 10,000m) and Marion Jepngetich (4th, 5,000m) all earned First Team All-America honors. With Kosgei and Kipkurui’s 10,000m victories, UNM became the first D-I institution to sweep both men’s and women’s 10K titles at the same NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The UNM men finished 5th in the team score – their highest finish ever – with the most points in program history (31 points). The women placed ninth with 25 points – their second-best finish in history. The two squads’ 56 points combined were the most in any single season at UNM, more than twice the previous highest combined of 22 points (2018).
After outdoor championships, Gauson was named USTFCCA Mountain Region Coach of the Year for both men and women, with Pamela Kosgei named Regional Athlete of the Year and becoming the first finalist for The Bowerman in program history.
| 2023-24 |
In his first season at UNM, the Lobo men won their first Mountain West Championship since 2014, and Gauson was named MW Men’s Coach of the Year. Led by a Mountain Region individual title by freshman Habtom Samuel, the Lobos finished third at regionals — their best finish since 2013 — and qualified for the NCAA Championship race as a team for the first time since 2014. They went on to finish 18th in the nation, with Samuel finishing as a national runner-up and Evans Kiplagat also earning All-American honors. Nicola Jansen, a Bradley transfer who followed Gauson to Albuquerque, qualified as an individual and finished 36th at the National Championship race to become the third XC All-American of Gauson’s tenure.
In the first meet of the 2023-24 indoor season, Samuel broke the indoor 5,000m record and Lukas Kiprop broke the 3,000m record at the Sharon Danville-Colyear Season Opener.
In the 2023-24 indoor season, UNM athletes produced 33 marks that rank among the Top 10 in program history in their respective events. The women finished 4th and the men finished 5th at MW Indoor Championships, with Habtom Samuel and Mercy Kirarei sweeping the men’s and women’s 3,000m and 5,000m titles — the first time in program history that UNM won all four races at the same indoor championships. 10 Lobos earned indoor All-MW honors following the meet, with Habtom Samuel named Performer of the Meet and Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Samuel and Kiplagat both qualified for NCAA Indoor Championships, with Samuel finishing 4th in the 5,000m and 7th in the 3,000m for his second and third All-American awards and Kiplagat finishing 15th in the 5,000m for 2nd Team honors.
The Lobos put up 18 more Top-10 marks in the outdoor season, with Samuel breaking the UNM outdoor 5,000m and 10,000m records in the spring, winning his first NCAA individual title in the 10,000m and NCAA Outdoor Championships and finishing 6th in the 5,000m to make it five All-American honors in his freshman year alone. Maja Gebauer also matched the previous UNM record in the pole vault and became the first Lobo to win a MW title since 2009.
The UNM women finished 6th and the men finished 5th at Gauson’s first MW Outdoor Championships in Clovis, with 11 All-MW honorees. Samuel won both the 1,500m and 5,000m races — his 4th and 5th conference individual titles — to join Gebauer as at the top of the podium, later being named MW Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year to complete the season sweep of conference yearly awards.
At 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., Samuel scored 13 points in total for the Lobos with his first- and sixth-place finishes – the most points the UNM men have scored as a team at NCAA Outdoor Championships since 1967 (24) – to help the Lobos finish tied for 23rd in the men’s team score with Northern Arizona. It’s only the fifth time UNM has produced 13 or more points in the men’s team score in program history and the highest the Lobo men have finished in the team score since 2017.
UNM concluded the week as the second-highest placing non-P5 team in the men’s field behind Harvard (T-16th), outscoring 113 of 137 teams competing.
PRIOR TO UNM
Gauson has spent the last eight years as the head coach of the track and field and cross country programs at Bradley University in Illinois. He led the Braves to 10 Missouri Valley cross country titles, six by the men and four by the women, including this past year when Bradley swept both the men’s and women’s titles at the 2022 Missouri Valley Championships. Prior to arriving in Peoria, Gauson was the cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Lamar University, where he guided the Cardinals to back-to-back Southland Conference men’s and women’s cross country titles in 2013 and 2014.
“It’s an incredible honor to join a storied program and become the next head track & field and cross country coach at the University of New Mexico,” said Gauson. “UNM has developed into a championship program and I am excited to build on the tradition established at the school. Albuquerque is a place where athletes dream of coming to train and develop into national champions and Olympians. I want to thank Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez, Deputy Athletic Director David Williams and Senior Woman Administrator Amy Beggin for their faith in me and their desire to continue to elevate the program to new heights. I also want to thank Bradley University for all that they’ve done for me in my career. I can’t wait to get to work at New Mexico and develop high-character student-athletes in the classroom and on the track.”
During his time at Bradley and Lamar, in addition to the 14 team conference titles, Gauson has coached 75 conference champions,
14 conference athletes of the year and 15 conference freshman of the year. He has mentored four All-Americans and six conference outstanding track performers.
A 10-time Missouri Valley Coach of the Year and the 2018 USTFCCCA Midwest Region Men’s Coach of the Year, Gauson build Bradley into a powerhouse. His teams included a record-setting performance by the men’s cross country team in 2019, when the Braves had the top four finishers at the conference meet to set the modern-day Missouri Valley scoring record with 17 points. A year earlier, Bradley qualified for the NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championship for the first time in program history, finishing 24th at the 2018 meet. The Bradley women’s team had the second-lowest score in MVC history in 2017, when it had five runners in the top eight en route to the conference title.
On the track, Gauson coached the first individual outdoor and indoor MVC champions for the BU men in 30 and 34 years, respectively, during the 2016 and 2017 championships. Additionally, the Bradley women won their first distance medley relay crown in school history in 2019. Bradley set school records for points scored at the MVC Indoor and Outdoor Championships by both the men and women over the past five seasons. In 2017, Daniel Gagne became the first BU man to qualify for the NCAA Track and Field Championship in 42 years, where he earned second-team All-America honors in the 1,500m run in 2017. In 2021, Wilma Nielsen became the first Bradley freshman to qualify for the NCAA Championship and finished the campaign as the nation’s third-ranked rookie in the 800m. Earlier this month, Tiana LoStracco earned honorable mention All-America honors as she qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championship in the 1500m.
In addition to success on the course and on the track, Bradley also had success in the classroom under Gauson. He has coached seven Academic All-Americans and 11 MVC Elite 17 Award winners. Bradley has earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors in each of year of his tenure. The men ranked as high as fourth nationally in team GPA (2019 and 2021), while the women peaked at fifth in 2017.
Gauson came to Bradley from Lamar University, where he guided both the Cardinals men’s and women’s cross country programs to consecutive Southland Conference championships in 2013 and 2014. In addition to the championship success of the cross country teams at Lamar, Gauson coached the Cardinals runners to 29 individual Southland Conference championships in cross country and track in just three seasons. Among his star runners, Gauson helped Matt Johnsen to a 33rd-place finish at the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championship and the first All-America honor for the Cardinals since 1969. Additionally, Sam Stabler posted the second-fastest 5,000m time in the nation in 2015 to go along with Academic All-America honors.
A 2006 graduate of Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a degree in sport and exercise science, Gauson competed two years at Butler University where he was coached by former UNM head coach Joe Franklin. He earned a master’s of science degree in education from Butler in 2008. With the Bulldogs, Gauson earned a Horizon League title in the 1,500m during his final year of eligibility in addition to claiming Scottish national championships in the event in both 2004 and 2005.
Following graduation, Gauson was also an assistant cross country/track and field coach at Butler for four seasons. The Butler men were able to extend their streak of consecutive conference cross country titles to 14 during Gauson’s time in Indianapolis and the team finished 29th at the NCAA Championship during his first season on the coaching staff. Butler boasted four All-Americans overall during his tenure at the school.