Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics
After winning the Stanford Invitational Men’s 10,000m with the fastest time in the nation, New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel has been named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week for the fourth time in his collegiate career, the organization announced Monday.
It’s also Samuel’s third National AOTW honor this academic year alone — he was named XC Athlete of the Week in October after winning the Nuttycombe Invitational title and Indoor Track Athlete of the Week in December after his season-opening 5K win in Boston.
In his first outdoor race of the season Friday night in Palo Alto, Samuel ran the fastest 10K in the nation so far this season — nearly eight seconds faster than the No. 2 time — en route to an individual win to open his season at the Stanford Invitational. The Eritrean junior closed with a 59.80-second final lap to put some distance between himself and the field.
That time ranks 11th amongst collegiate performances all-time and is a new Stanford Invitational meet record – it’s also 28.8 seconds faster than the next-fastest performance in the most recent MW conference rankings from AFA’s Jayden Nats (27:59.31). Samuel won the 2024 outdoor 10K title his freshman year and finished as national runner-up behind teammate and collegiate record holder Ishmael Kipkurui in 2025 – his 26:53.84 performance at THE TEN in 2024 ranks No. 2 on the all-time collegiate list.
