Habtom Samuel Closes First Night of NCAA Championships as 10,000-Meter Champion

Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics

EUGENE, Oregon— From the starting gun of Wednesday night’s 10,000-meter run of the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Habtom Samuel set the tone, pushing out to an early lead and holding off Louisville’s Elsingi Kipruto late to become a national champion.

Samuel crossed the line at 27:51.31, winning by a margin of 2.73 seconds for his second 10,000-meter championship (also achieved in 2024) as well as the third Lobo all-time to win the event. Further, it is the third consecutive year in which the Lobos have won the 10,000-meter race with Samuel winning it in 2024, Ishmael Kipkurui winning it in 2025 and Samuel repeating in 2026.

The junior took the first lap in 1:04:42, almost a full 2.5 seconds ahead of Kipruto, leading for the first eight laps before the Louisville runner closed and took a lead at the 3600-meter mark with an Arkansas runner and a pair of Alabama runners joining the lead pack.

Habtom regained control midway through the race, shortening his lap time between the 4800-meter and 7600-meter portion. Louisville’s runner took a slight lead with four laps remaining with Samuel falling back to third, with the Lobo sitting in fifth with three laps remaining before Samuel found another gear to take the lead with 800-meters left in the race. He closed with a 58.82 to lead heading into the final lap and finished the final lap in 56.81, his fastest two laps of the race to seal the victory.

Samuel’s win highlighted the first day of competition, with his 10 points putting UNM in a tie for eighth place in the team standings.

Fellow Lobos Evans Kiplagat and Matthew Endrödy had their outdoor seasons come to a close as Endrödy did not advance in the 15000-meter semifinal after running 3:38.26 in the second heat and Kiplagat finished the 10,000-meter competition in 29:25.06.

The Lobo women get started on Thursday evening with Taniya Looney competing in both the 100-meter and 200-meter semifinals at 7:25 p.m. and 8:29 p.m. MT, respectively, and Pamela Kosgei closing out the evening with the 10,000-meter final at 8:56 p.m. MT.