Habtom Samuel and Evans Kiplagat secured spots in the NCAA Outdoor Championships 10,000-meter event on May 27 during the first day of competition at the NCAA West Region Prelims held at John McDonnell Track in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Samuel won the 10,000-meter semifinal with a time of 28:42.53, advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in this event for the third consecutive year. He previously won the national title in 2024 and was runner-up in 2025. Samuel will also compete in Friday’s 5,000-meter semifinal after setting a collegiate record in that distance earlier this week.
Kiplagat finished eighth with a time of 28:56.77, earning his first qualification for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Vincent Chirchir finished fourteenth and did not advance but will compete again on Friday in the 5,000 meters. Thomas Termote concluded his season with a forty-second-place finish.
In other events, Matthew Endrody advanced from the men’s 1,500-meter first round after finishing third in his heat with a time of 3:40.08. Joshua Abraham finished tenth in his heat and thirty-fourth overall to end his season. Levente Soos narrowly missed advancing from the men’s 400-meter hurdles after placing twenty-sixth overall.
The men’s pole vault event was postponed due to weather conditions and rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. The University of New Mexico athletes will continue competing throughout the week as part of ongoing events streamed via ESPN+.
