Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics 

New Mexico Track & Field’s distance women wrapped up Day One of competition at the John Thomas Terrier Classic on Friday with two All-Time Top 5 marks in the 3,000m thanks to new PB’s from Marion Jepngetich and Mercy Kirarei that rank No. 2 and No. 4 all-time.

Jepngetich put down a time that will almost assuredly rank among the Top 10 in the nation as she finished as the top collegian in the 3K invitational heat, while Kirarei posted a massive improvement to finish as the second-fastest athlete in the open heats.

The Lobos’ distance men get their turn tomorrow on the final day of competition in Boston, with Rhys Crawford up first in the men’s open mile at 12:15 p.m. (MT). All of this weekend’s competition in Albuquerque will be streamed via paid subscription to FloTrack, with live results available via GoLobos.com/TrackResults. Follow @UNMLoboXCTF on Instagram and X for live coverage, meet day content and more.

Women’s 800 Meters Open
23. Charlotte O’Meara – 2:13.15
28. Kylie Feeney – 2:13.61

Women’s Mile Open
72. Meadow Drebert – 5:04.57*
* Mile Debut

Women’s 3K Invite
3. Marion Jepngetich – 8:48.98*
* Personal Best, No. 2 UNM Indoor List

Jepngetich finished as the top collegian in the fastest heat of the day, finishing third behind a pair of professional runners as she put down the second-fastest 3K time in school history. She moved up from fourth on the all-time list with a performance just under 10 seconds faster than her converted best () that stood as fourth-fastest in school history.

Women’s 5K Invite
6. Tina Nisoli – 15:50.12*
*Personal Best

Nisoli improved on her previous best set on the same track in Boston in December (15:53.92) for a sixth-place finish in the fastest 5K heat of the night — prior to this season, the Los Alamos native who didn’t run cross country or track in high school had never broken the 16-minute barrier.

Women’s 3K Open
2. Mercy Kirarei – 8:59.89*
7. Nicola Jansen – 9:06.87^
8. Jasmine Wood – 9:06.91”
10. Tilly Simpson – 9:10.93”
19. Li-Mari Dekker – 9:18.33”
65. Mia Torrecillas – 9:50.74”
* Personal Best, No. 4 UNM Indoor List
^ Personal Best
“ Collegiate 3,000m Debut

Mercy Kirarei ran a huge personal best – 12.57 seconds faster than her previous raw best (9:12.46) and 3.71 better than her 9:03.60 conversion that ranked eighth on the UNM all-time list – to finish as the second-fastest athlete in the open sections of the women’s 3,000m. Behind her, Nicola Jansen (9:06.87) shaved 7.26 seconds off her previous 3K best (9:13.61) to finish seventh overall and Jasmine Wood (9:06.91), Tilly Simpson (9:10.93), Li-Mark Dekker (9:18.33), and Mia Torrecillas (9:50.74) all notched the first 3,000m marks of their collegiate careers.