UNM TRACK & FIELD
UNM's Evans Kiplagat, Christina Nisoli claim Mountain West 10K championships
Seven Lobos advance to their respective event's finals; Samuel, Kosgei healthy scratches from Thursday's 10K final
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No Habtom Samuel or Pamela Kosgei?
No problem.
Even without its two star distance runners, New Mexico dominated the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 10,000-meter finals Thursday at the Mountain West Track and Field Outdoor Championships behind strong performances from Evans Kiplagat and Christina Nisoli.
Racing at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif., Kiplagat finished in 29 minutes and 23.92 seconds to claim his first league title in the men鈥檚 10K.
Nisoli, a senior from Los Alamos, dominated the women鈥檚 10k to finish in 34:12.20, setting up another first-time conference champion for UNM.
Fellow Lobos Samuel and Kosgei have won national championships in the 10k, but were healthy scratches for Thursday鈥檚 finals. Both will compete in Saturday鈥檚 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 5K finals.
Kiplagat spent most of Thursday鈥檚 10K final battling his teammate Vincent Chirchir, the reigning Mountain West champion. The race was only decided on the final lap, with Kiplagat moving ahead late to beat Chirchir (29:26.92) over the final 300 meters.
鈥淚t feels good because last year (in the 10K), he beat me (with) the kick,鈥� he said in a postrace interview with the Mountain West鈥檚 Karlie Drew. 鈥淭his year, I was ready for it.鈥�
There wasn鈥檛 nearly as much drama in the women鈥檚 10K, however. Admittedly 鈥渘ot very good at closing,鈥� Nisoli said she was waiting for her coach to tell her if she should go take the lead from her teammate, Mercy Kirarei, at the midpoint of the race.
鈥淏ut then, I don鈥檛 know 鈥� it felt like it was kind of slow and I was just itching to go,鈥� she said in a postrace interview with Drew. 鈥淗e said, at around 11 laps, to slowly make (my) way up to Mercy.鈥�
Nisoli took it and ran with it, separating herself from the pack by upwards of 100 meters for the rest of the race. Only Air Force鈥檚 India Jones (34:28.02) finished within 20 seconds of Nisoli.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 feeling the most confident for the (outdoor races),鈥� she added. 鈥淏ut (Thursday), I called my mom and said, 鈥榶ou know, this is the first race, I feel good and I鈥檓 really excited.鈥欌��
Around the track
Taniya Looney set a new school record in the women鈥檚 200 prelims, running a blistering 22.90 to advance to Saturday鈥檚 final. Prior to Thursday鈥檚 race, no member of UNM鈥檚 women鈥檚 team had ever run a sub-23 second 200.
Kylie Feeney (2:06.67) and Jasmine Wood (2:07.28) recorded the second and third fastest times of the women鈥檚 800 prelim round, advancing to Saturday鈥檚 final with Li-Mari Dekker (2:07.67). Matthew Endr枚dy (1:50.26) also advanced to Saturday鈥檚 men鈥檚 800 final.
Levente Soos won the men鈥檚 400 hurdles prelim round with a 51.52 finish, while Hanna Kiess ran a 59.18 in the women鈥檚 event鈥檚 prelims, good for second overall in the round and a spot in Saturday鈥檚 final.
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at .
