COLUMBIA, Mo. – After two years of close calls, Habtom Samuel finally won an NCAA Cross Country title and New Mexico’s men and women both finished on the team podium for the first time in program history to cap off a historic day at the 2025 NCAA Championships Saturday morning at Gans Creek Park.
It’s the lowest combined placing between the two teams at NCAA Championships in program history, the second year in a row in which the Lobos accomplished the feat after the women finished seventh and men finished ninth in 2024. Prior to the 2024 NCAA Championships, the Lobos had never put both teams in the Top 10 of the national team score – this year, both finished in the Top 4.
Among 15 programs that qualified both men’s and women’s squads for nationals, UNM is the only one to place both on the team podium.
Samuel ran a strategic race, hanging near the front of the pack before making a late move to which no other individual could respond as he pulled away down the stretch. He moved up 12 spots with a 2:37.4 kilometer split between the eight- and nine-kilometer marks to take control and didn’t look back, exuberantly celebrating as he bounded down the final 100 meters with victory in hand.
HABTOM SAMUEL‼️
HE’S. THAT. GUY‼️ pic.twitter.com/MwaB14ahnk
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) November 22, 2025
Samuel becomes the first man from New Mexico and the second Mountain West men’s runner to accomplish the feat, joining BYU’s Josh Rohatinsky (30:44:90), who won in 2006. His 10k time of 28:33.9 at the national meet is also the best in conference history, surpassing his marks of 28:40.7 in 2023 and 28:38.9 in 2024.
Five Lobos – four men and one women – secured Top-40 individual finishes for All-American honors, with Samuel joined by Pamela Kosgei (17th, 19:02.8) on the women’s side and Collins Kiprotich (8th, 28:45.7), Evans Kiplagat (13th, 28:50.7) and Vincent Chirchir (20th, 28:52.8) on the men’s side. They’re the third All-American cross country honors of Samuel and Kiplagat’s careers, the second of Kiprotich’s and the second year in a row with a total of five All-Americans between men and women.
The UNM men finished with 82 points to place second in the nation, breaking a program record for lowest men’s point total that they set at last year’s national meet (272 points). In their first team appearance since 2014 in 2023, they finished 18th with 465 points — they shaved 193 points off of that in 2024 and 190 more off that this year.
Never gave up.
A word with your 2025 NCAA XC Champion, Habtom Samuel 🥇🐺 pic.twitter.com/z6irUcPT59
— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) November 22, 2025
The Lobo women returned to the podium with a 216-point total to secure a fourth-place team finish, with all five point-scorers packing into the Top 75 individuals behind Kosgei’s 17th-place performance. Marion Jepngetich (43rd, 19:27.6) and Judy Rono (49th, 19:31.5) both placed among the Top 50 in their first NCAA Championship races, with Alice Seguin (71st, 19:43.0) and Nicola Jansen (73rd, 19:43.6) closing out the scoring.
INDIVIDUAL FINISHERS
HISTORICAL NOTES
– Samuel – who is the most decorated Lobo in program history with a total of 10 First Team All-American finishes – and Kiplagat are the first men from New Mexico to finish as XC All-Americans three times.
– The Lobo men’s 82-point total stands as their lowest at NCAA Championships in program history by a whopping margin of 190 points.
– The women’s fourth-place finish is their 15th Top-10 team finish in as many NCAA Championship appearances – they’ve qualified for 17 of the last 18 NCAA Championships held, with 2023 being the only National championship they failed to qualify for as a team in that span.
– UNM has now had at least one woman finish as an All-American at NCAA’s 14 times in a row.
