UNM TRACK AND FIELD
UNM women roll to second straight Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships title
Pamela Kosgei remains undefeated, named Performer of the Meet
Published
Modified
Last year, New Mexico’s women’s track team returned to the Mountain West’s summit, winning its first indoor championship in 11 years.
This year, they defended that title in utterly-dominant fashion.
The Lobo women clinched their second straight Mountain West indoor team title Saturday, scoring 116 points on the meet’s final day to finish with a program-best 165 at the close of the league’s three-day championship meet.
Nevada (84 points) and Colorado State (73 points) finished second and third, respectively. UNM’s margin of victory over Nevada (81 points) is the largest in this meet since 2009, when BYU beat second-place TCU by 107 points.
“We felt really good coming into the season that we had a really deep team, and I think we scored in every event (except) for throws — but we don’t have any (throwers) or a throws coach,” UNM head track and field coach Darren Gauson laughed in a broadcast interview with the Mountain West’s Karlie Drew on Saturday.
The Lobos’ highest point total in meet history was boosted by four league titles Saturday, including Pamela Kosgei’s winning 8 minutes and 58.58 seconds run in the women’s 3,000-meter final.
The sophomore from Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya led the way in a race that saw UNM score 36 points after six Lobos finished at the top of the leaderboard, with Marion Jepngetich (8:58.91) and Nicola Jansen (9:19.51) earning podium finishes alongside Kosgei.
In light of her 3k and 5k wins this week, Kosgei was named the Women's Performer of the Meet. The reigning NCAA champion in the outdoor 5k and 10k has won five Mountain West indoor titles over the last two years, and is expected to contend for an indoor national championship in the 5k in March.
Tilly Simpson (4:39.72) and Rebecca Grieve (51.80) also won league titles in the women’s mile and 400, respectively. The latter closed out UNM’s win in the 4x400 relay, anchoring Eva Ngom, Hanna Kiess and Sofia Pineda to a 3:33.40 finish and the Lobos’ final conference championship of the meet.
“We knew we were capable of this, so we’re just happy we managed to put it together today,” Grieve told Drew in a broadcast interview Saturday.
Despite winning six league titles Saturday, UNM’s men’s track and field team finished second in the team standings with 122 points. Colorado State won its third-straight indoor title with 138 points; Grand Canyon finished third with 99 points.
UNM’s men last won an indoor title in 2013.
“We didn’t go too heavy on the men’s side,” Gauson said. “We just made that decision — we’re a national-level men’s program. We didn’t want to triple or quadruple Habtom or (Evans Kiplagat). So I think we’re in a great position to represent the Mountain West at the highest level in the nation.”
Habtom Samuel claimed one of the Lobos’ six titles, running a 7:48.55 in the men’s 3k final to remain undefeated in Mountain West indoor races. With an NCAA-leading time of 13:05.21, he is the odds-on favorite to win a 5k national title in March.
“This means a lot to me,” Samuel told Drew in a broadcast interview after winning the 3k final Saturday. “It just gives me some energy for nationals in two weeks … As I said (Thursday), the consistency is the key. I’m glad to have the consistency.”
Matthew Endrody also claimed league titles in the men’s 800 (1:53.21) and mile (4:06.60) while Brodie Young won his second straight conference championship in the 400 (45.54). The senior from Glasgow, Scotland anchored UNM’s league-title winning 4x400 relay, finishing in 3:09.94 with Kahari Wilbon, Semaj Thompson and Valin Wittenburg.
Cameron Miller won the Lobos’ lone field event title this week, notching the men’s triple jump title Saturday with a field-best leap of 15.38 meters.
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.
