EAGLE, Idaho – The New Mexico men’s team and the Colorado State women’s team swept the individual and team titles at the 2023 Mountain West Cross Country Championships on Friday morning at Eagle Island State Park.
The 18th-ranked Lobo men claimed the program’s seventh team title with 34 points. Freshman Habtom Samuel led the Lobos to their first team championship crown since 2014 after crossing the finish line in a meet-record time of 22:57.7, becoming the first MW men’s runner to break 23 minutes at the Conference championship.
New Mexico edged No. 26 Air Force by two points in the team race. The two-point margin of victory is the closest team race in Mountain West Men’s Championship history.
Colorado State senior Sarah Carter clocked a 6k time of 19:48.5 to lead the 25th-ranked Colorado State women to the MW team title. Carter’s time is the seventh fastest in meet history. The Rams placed three in the top 10 to win the team title with 39 points, followed by Boise State in second with 65 points. Colorado State’s title ended New Mexico’s streak of 15-consecutive women’s championship titles.
The team title is only the second in program history for the Ram women and first since 2007.
Carter was followed by Nicola Jansen of New Mexico in second. The runner-up Broncos placed two in the top five (Autumn Ost and Kaiya Robertson) and Air Force rounded at the top three women’s teams with 87 points.
On the men’s side New Mexico swept the top three places with Evans Kiplagat and Lukas Kiprop. The Falcons were led by Max Sannes in fourth, as he led five Air Force runners to finish in the top 10. Boise State took third on the men’s side with 75 points, led by Joe Hudson in fifth.
Mountain West teams and individual runners now turn their attention to the NCAA Mountain or West Regionals, which will be held on Friday, Nov. 10.
