UNM cross country teams embark on potentially historic season each ranked in Top 4 in country

Trophies aren’t raised in August. But expectations sure are.

Tuesday only solidified that the outside world is well aware the 2025-26 season for the University of New Mexico men’s and women’s cross country and track & field programs has the potential to be the best combined year in school history.

The Lobos men’s (No. 2) and women’s (No. 4) cross country teams were each ranked in the Top 4 in the nation in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Preseason poll. It’s the highest ranking ever for the men, and the first time in school history both programs have been ranked in the Top 4 at the same time.

“Rankings are great. It really helps ... recruiting, and it solidifies what we’ve built,” said Darren Gauson, beginning his third year as coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track & field programs at UNM.

“The expectations on the program this season are (high). I think in the first couple of years, it was like, ‘Hey, can we get into the top 15? Can we get into the top 10?’ I think now, as the coach, hey, we’ve got the athletes, we’ve done a great job of retention. So this year is realistically an opportunity where, you know, the top four (teams) in cross country are on the podium. That’s what we should be thinking about.”

The stars do seem to be aligned for a great run, so to speak, at a title for both the men’s and women’s teams.

For the men, two-time runner up Habtom Samuel is back, as are fellow All-Americans Collins Kiprotich and Evans Kiplagat.

For the women, there’s no brighter star than sophomore Pamela Kosgei, who is coming off two national individual championships in outdoor track in May (the 5,000 and 10,000 meters) and was the national runner up as a true freshman last year. They also have the return of 2024 All American Mercy Kirarei and 2023 All-American Nicola Jansen.

Oh, and then there’s the newcomers, at least to the cross country scene, for the Lobos. They include track & field stars Mathew Kosgei, a sophomore from Kenya on the men’s team, Alice Seguin, a junior from France on the women’s team, and Marion Jepngetick, a sophomore from Kenya on the women’s team.

“We’ve gotta get them out there in some pressure meets at Stillwater (Oklahoma State’s Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 26), Wisconsin (the Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 18) where you’re seeing national level programs, and see how they can compete against some of the top teams in the country,” Gauson said. “I think that’s important, because you might be great on the track or you might be great in your respective country, but it’s a little bit different in the NCAA and the way the races are ran, or the types of courses that you compete on, so that’s going to be really important in some of those earlier season meets.”

The only schools with both their men’s and women’s programs in the Top 5 are BYU (men 4, women 1) and UNM (men 2, women 4). Stanford (6th for both) and Oregon (men 9, women 2) are the only others to have both programs in the Top 10.

The No. 2 ranking for the men, who finished 9th as a team last year, is their highest ever ranking (they’ve twice risen to as high as No. 5). They received three of the 11 first place votes in the poll, which has last year’s national runner up Iowa State ranked No. 1.

For the women, who finished 7th nationally last year, the No. 4 preseason pick is the highest since finishing the 2022 season ranked No. 2.

Kosgei to Tokyo

The women’s team is led by sophomore Pamela Kosgei, who finished as national runner up last year as a freshman in cross country before cementing her legacy as a two-time national champion — as a freshman! — in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the spring.

She won’t be joining the Lobos in competition too early this season (she’s at UNM and training) as she’s preparing to compete in mid-September at the Tokyo World Championships.

”We’ve got to run there, recover and then get ready for the cross country season,” Gauson said, before reiterating the goal for her is the same as the team at large.

”Periodization is important, and peaking at the right time is really important as well.”

Regional rankings

In the USTFCCCA regional rankings, which rank 1-15 over nine regions, New Mexico State’s men’s team checks in at No. 15 in the Mountain Region.

UNM is No. 1 with fellow Mountain West programs Air Fore (No. 5), Utah State (6), Wyoming (8), Colorado State (12) and Nevada (14) in pursuit.

In the women’s rankings, NMSU is No. 15 in the Mountain Region while BYU (No. 1) and UNM (No. 2) are flip-flopped from the men’s regional rankings. Mountain West schools Utah State (6th), Colorado State (8), Air Force (9) and Wyoming (11) are also ranked.

Up next

As noted above, on Saturday, NMSU is hosting the Lori Fitzgerald Open in Las Cruces and both UNM’s men’s and women’s teams — albeit none of their top runners — will be competing in it.

“New Mexico State, it’ll be more the (Lobos) second team that competes at that one and then a month later, we go to Oklahoma State. We’ll compete against some great teams there,” Gauson said.