UNM track: Pamela Kosgei dominates last lap to win NCAA 10k prelim

There are freshman phenoms.

And then there’s Pamela Kosgei.

New Mexico’s Kosgei won the women’s 10,000-meter semifinals Thursday at the NCAA West First Round, authoring a ferocious kick over the last lap to finish in 33 minutes and 37.04 seconds at E.B. Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas.

In doing so, the freshman from Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya, qualified for the 10k final NCAA Championships (June 11-14) in Eugene, Oregon. The author of the second fastest 10k in NCAA history, she’s now in position to claim UNM’s first women’s outdoor national championship since Weini Kelati won the same event in 2019.

And on Thursday, she showed exactly why she’ll be the favorite to do just that.

In a race that saw plenty of traffic up front, Kosgei and Oregon’s Diana Cherotich (33:43.18) broke away from the pack for good with five laps remaining. The two proceeded to run shoulder to shoulder for the next four laps, steadily growing the gap between them and the rest of the field with each passing stride.

Then Kosgei decided to open one between her and Cherotich. The five-time Mountain West champion turned on the jets with one lap left, mirroring what fellow Lobos Ishmael Kipkurui and Habtom Samuel did in their dominating 10k finishes Wednesday night.

The result was much of the same, too: Kosgei finished just over six seconds ahead of second-place Cherotich to lock up her first career NCAA Championships appearance as a freshman; she could also clinch as the top seed in Saturday’s 5k semifinals.

UNM’s Nicola Jansen (35:11.33) and Jasmine Wood (35:48.69) also ran in Thursday’s 10k, but did not advance.

UNM qualifiers

Like Samuel and Kipkurui, Kosgei now has a spot locked up in the NCAA Championships. But the vast majority of runners still have to make it past Saturday’s quarterfinals to do so.

The three Lobos who advanced Thursday:

• Judy Rono advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals in the 1500, running a 4:17.29 to finish 15th overall in the first round. The freshman from Eldama Ravine, Kenya must finish in the top 12 on Saturday to advance to the NCAA Championships.

• Rebecca Grieve ran a 52.67 in the first round of the 400, good for 21st overall and a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

• Hannah Kiess advanced in the 400 meter hurdles after running a 58.40, finishing 21st overall.

Beyond the 10k, one Lobo did not advance to Saturday, at least as an individual: Lou-Anne Pouzancre Hoyer ran a 53.23 in the first round of the 400, missing the cut by less than a fourth of a second. The Sardan, France native also failed to qualify for the quarterfinals in the 200, running a 23.77 to finish 37th overall; she is still scheduled to compete in the 4x400 relay Saturday.

Friday’s events

With the NCAA West First Round schedule flipping back to men’s events, the full list of Lobos scheduled to compete Friday:

• 100m quarterfinals: Cam Watts

• 400m quarterfinals: Brodie Young

• 400m hurdles quarterfinals: Levente Soos

• 5000m semifinals: Habtom Samuel, Evans Kiplagat, Ishmael Kipkurui, Vincent Chirchir, Collins Kiprotich

• Triple jump: Cameron Miller

NMSU qualifiers

Three Aggies competed Thursday, but did not advance to Saturday: Jhana Downie ran a 23.93 in the 200 to finish 39th; Sahara Tasker ran a 56.26 in the 400 to place 44th; and Rachel O’Brien ran the 1500 in 4:48.55 to finish 47th.