Colorado Springs, Colo. – Air Force’s Texas Tanner and New Mexico’s Marion Jepngetich have been named the 2026 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athletes of the Year as voted on by the league’s head coaches. Tanner earns the honor for a second consecutive year, while Jepngetich is the Lobos’ first women’s outdoor recipient since 2023.
The honor is awarded to the best male and female student-athlete(s) in the Conference following the conclusion of the outdoor season.
A native of Sheridan, Wyoming, Tanner turned in a historic final collegiate outdoor season, recording the No. 2 marks in NCAA history in the discus (69.56m/228’2”) and the hammer throw (78.87m/258’9”) with his hammer mark serving as the best all-time throw by an American-born collegiate and best throw by any collegiate athlete since 1995.
At the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championship earlier this month, Tanner earned a pair of first-team All-America honors, finishing as the national runner-up in the hammer (75.45m/247’6”) and earning a fourth-place finish in the discus (63.75m/209’2”) to become the most decorated All-American in Air Force history. The hammer and discus finishes at the national meet were the highest by a Mountain West athlete in those events since 2003 and 2011, respectively.
The senior led the country in both events during the regular season and earned the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award on April 13 after breaking a 26-year old Mountain West record in the discus, marking the first time an Air Force track and field athlete had earned a national weekly honor in program history. Tanner also became the first from Air Force to be named to The Bowerman Award Watch List – the highest honor in collegiate track and field – and was the only thrower on the 10-man list released at the end of May.
Tanner finishes his career with his name etched in the Mountain West record books as he holds the championship meet records in the discus and hammer, the top-three marks in league history in the discus and the top-seven throws in the hammer in the Conference all-time.
On the women’s side, Jepngetich picks up the women’s outdoor athlete of the year honor after taking home the 2026 NCAA title in the 5,000-meter race at Hayward Field this month.
The sophomore from Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, clocked a time of 15:13.01 to win the 5,000m in Eugene, marking a career-best time and the No. 3 time in Mountain West history. She gave the Lobos their second consecutive national title in the event after teammate Pamela Kosgei won the Conference’s first 5,000m national title last June. After initially finishing second, a disqualification of the first-place finisher moved Jepngetich onto the top of the podium for her first NCAA title and first-team All-America honors in the event for a second straight season after finishing fourth a year ago.
In May, Jepngetich won the 2026 Mountain West title in the 5,000 meter, setting the championship meet record with a time of 15:22.06. She followed that performance with a then-personal best time of 15:18.05 at the NCAA West Preliminaries to punch her ticket to Eugene.
