UNM's Kosgei wins cross country regional title; Lobo men qualify for nationals

New Mexico freshman Pamela Kosgei comfortably outdistanced the field on a snowy Washoe County Golf Course, claiming the women’s individual title at the NCAA Cross Country Mountain Regionals held in Reno, Nevada on Friday.

In the men’s race, Habtom Samuel’s second-place individual finish led UNM to a second-place team finish and automatic qualification for the NCAA Championships in Madison, Wisconsin on Nov. 23.

Kosgei paced the UNM women to a third-place team finish. The Lobos are likely to be selected on Saturday for an at-large berth at nationals.

Brigham Young, ranked first nationally in both the men’s and women’s competition, took twin victories at regionals. The New Mexico men finished with a team score of 61 points, just nine points behind the Cougars.

The UNM women compiled 111 points, finishing behind BYU (52) and Northern Arizona (65).

New Mexico’s men placed three runners in the top 10: Samuel, Vincent Chircher (seventh) and Evans Kiplagat (10th).

The Lobos’ Mercy Kirarei finished seventh in the women’s race. Kosgei, Samuel and Kirarei all have qualified for nationals as individuals.

With her victory, Kosgei remained undefeated in four races as a collegian. She ran most of the race in close contact with Texas Tech’s Juliet Cherubet before pulling away for victory in a time of 19 minutes, 30.9 seconds over 6 kilometers. Cherubet finished 13.7 seconds back.

Finishing behind Kosgei and Kirarei were Christina Nisola (29th), Klara Dess (35th) and Natalie Bitetti (39th), rounding out UNM’s scoring.

In the men’s 8k, Texas Tech’s Solomon Kipchoge led virtually from start to finish. Samuel ran with teammates Chirchir and Kiplagat, in 5-6-7 positions, until surging to catch the Red Raiders’ Ernest Cheruiyot, the eventual third-place finisher, in the final stretch.

Samuel finished in 28:59.2, 3.3 seconds behind Kipchoge.

Collins Kiprotich (16th) and Rikus Van Niekerk (26th) were the Lobos’ final two counters.

New Mexico State’s women finished 16th out of 19 teams, with Jordan Torres (82nd, 21;41.9) their top finisher. The NMSU men, led by Thomas Croshaw (51st, 30:27.3)), finished 15th of 17 teams.