Marion Jepngetich Wins 5000-Meter Title to Conclude NCAA Outdoor Championships

Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics 

EUGENE, Oregon— A personal best turned into a national championship for Marion Jepngetich as two Lobos finished on the podium in the 5000-meter final of the NCAA Outdoor Championships Saturday night.

Finishing in 15:13.01, the Lobo sophomore edged out Iowa State’s Mercyline Kirwa by 0.71 to win her first NCAA championship, while Pamela Kosgei added a fifth-place finish with a time of 15:15.88. Her championship time was also 4.01 seconds off of her previous personal best in the event, which she ran in the BU Season Opener this season and trimmed 5.04 off of her time that she ran at the NCAA West Preliminary in May.

With Jepngetich’s win, the Lobos finished the outdoor championships with three NCAA titles, including a sweep of the 5,000 meters, with Habtom Samuel winning both the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters on the men’s side. In addition, it marks consecutive years that UNM has won the 5,000-meter title after Kosgei won it in 2025, and the most individual titles won by UNM at any NCAA outdoor or indoor championships in program history.

The women finished tied for 12^th with 22 points with Kosgei accounting for 12 of the points following her runner-up finish in the 10,000-meters and her fifth-place result on Sunday. The 22 team points are the third most in an outdoor championship for the Lobos, behind 27 points in 2019 and 25 points achieved last year. Further, New Mexico finished as the highest non-Power 4 school, and one point behind Tennessee and two points behind LSU in the team standings.

Kosgei and Jepngetich were both in the top four through the first 600 meters with Kosgei sitting second and Jepngetich fourth, with the order holding through the first four laps. At the 2200-meter mark of the race, Jepngetich fell back to seventh in the pack while Kosgei held steady in second, with Jepngetich moving up to fourth two laps later and with 2000 meters remaining.

With four laps to go, the lead changed from North Dakota’s Jadyn Keeler to BYU’s Jane Hedengren with Kosgei third and Jepngetich fifth, with the lead again changing over the next 400 meters as Alabama’s Doris Lemngole passing Hedengren. The Lobos ran second and third with two laps to go with Kosgei second and Jepngetich third with the order holding going into the final lap. In the final 400 meters, Lemngole pulled away from Jepngetich with the Lobo unable to make up ground.

However, it was deemed that the Alabama runner was disqualified for infraction 15.5-3g, taking two or more steps on or over the curb during the race, with the Alabama coaches filing a protest. The protest was unsuccessful, resulting in Jepngetich being awarded the title.

With both Lobos finishing in the top eight, Jepngetich earned her third first team All-America finish and Kosgei’s eighth first team All-America finish and the second of the championships for Kosgei.