Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics
NEW YORK CITY – New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel broke a collegiate Two-Mile record that had stood since 1978 with a 8:11.47 performance at the Millrose Games Sunday at The Armory, finishing ninth in a field in which he was the only current collegiate runner.
In his first try at the distance, Samuel took 6.83 seconds off Henry Rono’s collegiate record of 8:18.3 in the event that stood untouched for more nearly five decades – the previous UNM record was a converted 8:27.5 from George Scott at the 1967 NCAA Indoor Championship (8:37.8 on a 160-yard board track).
The Eritrean junior is only the third Lobo to earn entry into the Millrose Games while still in college after Kerr (2018) and Weini Kelati (2020). Kerr finished second in the Mile in 2018 with a collegiate best 3:54.72 clocking, while Kelati finished seventh in the 3,000m in 2020 (8:54.66).
This story will be updated.
UP NEXT
The Lobos return to the ABQ Convention Center to host for the third week in a row when some of the nation’s top teams come to town for the team-scoring N.M. Collegiate Classic. All of next weekend’s action will be available to stream 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.
