Week in Review: Another New Mexico standout
Kipkurui sets collegiate record in 10,000 after outkicking Samuel, Wildschutt
The number of elite collegiate distance runners at the University of New Mexico officially grew from two to three in THE TEN meet in San Juan Capistrano, California, last Saturday night.
That was when Lobo freshman Ishmael Kipkurui moved from third place to first in the final home straightaway to win the men’s 10,000 meters at JSerra Catholic High School.
Kipkurui was running the first 10,000 of his career on the track, but he outkicked sophomore teammate Habtom Samuel and Adriaan Wildschutt of South Africa to win the race in 26:50.21, the fastest time in the world this year.
Samuel, the runner-up in the last two NCAA cross country title races, finished second in 26:51.06, followed by Wildschutt in 26:51.27, Telahun Haile of Ethiopia in 26:52.79, Graham Blanks of the U.S. in 26:57.30, and Gulver Singh of India in 27:00.22.
Kipkurui’s time broke the collegiate record of 26:52.79 that had been set by Nico Young of Northern Arizona when he finished second to Grant Fisher of the U.S. in THE TEN meet last year, and Samuel’s time also bettered Young’s mark.
Wildschutt’s effort was the second fastest of his career and it marked the third time in a little more than a year that he had run under 26:56 in the event.
While Haile was running in his first 10,000 on the track, Blanks bettered his previous best by more than 78 seconds while moving to fourth on the all-time U.S. performer list and Singh lowered his national record by more than 14 seconds.
The 20-year-old Kipkurui had won the men’s U20 race of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia, in 2023. But he had not arrived on the New Mexico campus in Albuquerque until December after graduating from high school in Kenya in November. And while he had run 8:09.23 for two miles and 13:05.47 for 5,000 meters during the 2023 track season, he had finished seventh in the 5,000 and 14th in the 3,000 in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Virginia, from March 14-15.
In contrast, Samuel had placed second in the 5,000 in Virginia Beach and New Mexico freshman Pamela Kosgei had finished second in the women’s race of the NCAA cross country meet last November before placing third in the 5,000 in the indoor track and field championships. She was also headed to a third-place finish in the 3,000 before she fell with 20 meters left in the race and eventually placed 11th.
Many of the top entrants in the men’s race on Saturday were looking to run 27:00.00 or faster, as that time is the qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from Sept. 13-21. With that in mind, Josh Thompson paced the field through the first two kilometers in 5:23.92 and fellow rabbit Joey Berriatua was in first place when he passed 4,000 meters in 10:48.09.
Blanks, who won the last two NCAA cross country titles for Harvard before he signed a professional contract in December, took over the lead after Berriatua dropped out of the race at 4,800 meters and Haile was in front when he passed six kilometers in 16:13.14.
When Eritrean Samuel led the field through 8,000 meters in 21:38.05, the final time was projected to be 27:02.56. But the pace picked up during the final two kilometers of the race and Haile was in the lead with two laps left and Wildschutt was at the fore at the start of the bell lap.
Haile, Samuel, and Kipkurui were close behind the South African at that point, but Blanks began to lose ground down the final backstretch and Haile started to drop off a little around the final turn.
Wildschutt had a small lead over Samuel as they swung into the home straightaway, but neither of them could repel the charge of Kipkurui, who burst into the lead with about 60 meters to go while on his way to a last lap of 55.81 seconds and a final 800 of 1:56.77.
Kipkurui did not say much after the race during a trackside interview conducted on the Flotrack broadcast, but he did reply “good” when he was asked how he felt during the last lap and he also said his main goal had been to “qualify for Tokyo” by running 27:00.00 or faster.
Samuel was more talkative than Kipkurui and he said his “plan was to run hard for the last three laps.”
He added that he was pleased because his time bettered his previous best of 26:53.84 that he had set in finishing fifth in last year’s meet.
“As soon as I come to this field, I feel pretty good,” said the defending NCAA champion in the 10,000. “I love this place and I enjoy running in this place. So I am happy today… I’m improving from last year so I am happy.”
Kenyan depth: When Ishmael Kipkurui of the University of New Mexico set a collegiate record of 26:50.21 in the men’s 10,000 meters in THE TEN meet, he moved to 16th on the all-time Kenyan performer list in the event.
Overall, 45 Kenyans have run under 27 minutes in the 10,000.
Ethiopia has the second-most sub-27:00 performers with 23, followed by the U.S. with six, and Eritrea and Uganda with three each.
As of today, 88 men have run under 27 minutes for the 25-lap race.
Keeping his cool: Telahun Haile moved to 17th on all-time Ethiopian men’s list in the 10,000 when he ran 26:52.79 to place fourth in THE TEN meet, but he actually ran significantly faster than that because he was near the opposite end of the home straightaway when the race began.
According to the announcers on the Flotrack broadcast, the start of the race had been delayed for a few minutes so that Habtom Samuel of the University of New Mexico could run back to the staging area to get his bib to put on his singlet.
But when the reassembled field started the race, another runner and Haile were frantically running toward the starting line from the opposite end of the home straightaway.
Many runners might have panicked when they found themselves in that situation and tried to make up their deficit in a short period of time. But Haile seemed to maintain his composure as he gradually worked his way to the back of the pack before settling in among the lead group during the fourth and fifth laps.
Due to how far behind he was at the start, he was credited with a split of 73.63 seconds for the first 400 meters of the race in which he averaged 64.51 seconds for each of his 25 laps.
Shifting on the fly: Elise Cranny of the U.S. won the women’s 10,000 meters for the second time in three years in THE TEN meet on Saturday, but she admitted afterward that her time of 30:36.56 was not what she had in mind when she toed the starting line.
The American record of 30:03.82, set by Alicia Monson in THE TEN meet in 2023, was Cranny’s goal before the race, and after that mark started to become unattainable around 6,000 meters into the contest, she shifted her focus to meeting the qualifying standard of 30:20.00 for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from Sept. 13-21.
When the chances of the hitting the standard had evaporated by 8,000 meters, she concentrated on winning the race.
“I’m very frustrated with the outcome,” she said in an interview posted on Flotrack.org, “but I think I did a good job of being flexible within it and shifting the mindset to become this is the race that I’m in today, how can you make the most if it?”
Although Cranny’s time of 30:36.56 was well off her personal best of 30:14.66 that she had run in winning THE TEN meet in 2022, it was the eighth-fastest performance in U.S. history and left her comfortably ahead of Weini Kelati , whose second-place time of 30:38.60 was the No. 9 performance all-time by an American.
Callie Hauger-Thackery of Great Britain finished third in 30:53.73 and she was followed by Taylor Roe of the U.S. in 30:58.66, Lauren Ryan of Australia in 30:58.69, and Americans Emily Infeld and Jessica McClain in 30:59.38 and 30:59.81, respectively.
Freshman Pamela Kosgei of the University of New Mexico finished ninth in 31:02.73 to move to second on the all-time collegiate list behind the 30:50.43 effort that Florida’s Parker Valby ran in winning the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in California last year.
After pacesetter Flomena Asekol led the field through 2,000 meters in 6:00.24, Shelby Houlihan of the U.S., fresh off her silver-medal finish in the 3,000 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, was in first place when she came through four kilometers in 11:59.99.
Houlihan continued to lead through 5,600 meters before dropping out, but the pace had begun to slow when Cranny passed 6,000 meters in 18:05.19 and it had tapered off further when she came through eight kilometers in 24:26.46.
Kelati had taken the lead with a little more than two laps left in the race and she was still in first place at the start of the bell lap. But Cranny surged into the lead down the final backstretch and extended her advantage during the remainder of the race while running her last lap in 67.22 seconds.
Doing it the hard way: As mentioned in the previous note, freshman Pamela Kosgei of the University of New Mexico moved to second on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s 10,000 in THE TEN meet when she finished ninth in 31:02.73. But she did not make things easy on herself as she went out particularly fast.
The runner-up in last year’s NCAA cross country championships, Kosgei clocked 6:00.98 after the first two kilometers of the race and she came through 4,000 meters in 12:02.08 when she wasn’t far behind Elise Cranny and Weini Kelati, who finished first and second, respectively, in 30:36.56 and 30:38.60.
But she ran her final three two-kilometer segments of the race in 6:20.10, 6:22.47, and 6:18.08.
“She got out a little over her skis in the first 5k,” New Mexico coach Darren Gauson said in an interview on Flotrack.org. “[Running] 15:06 and coming back in 15:56, so that was not the plan… If [she] had gone out a little more controlled, I think there was a big run in there. We were hoping for a 30:30 tonight.”
Double trouble: Senior Liam Murphy and sophomore Marco Langon of Villanova University, who had each run in the men’s 5,000 and 3,000 meters in the NCAA indoor championships, posted the two fastest times in collegiate history in the 1,500 while placing first and second in the Raleigh Relays on March 27.
Murphy clocked 3:33.02 and Langon ran 3:33.38 while finishing ahead of Virginia junior Gary Martin, who had the lead entering the home straightaway before he placed third in 3:33.71.
All three times bettered the previous collegiate outdoor record of 3:33.74 set by Eliud Kipsang of Alabama in 2022.
Martin, who had run the second-fastest indoor time in collegiate history in the mile when he finished fifth in the Millrose Games in 3:48.82 in February, was in second place when pacesetter Connor Murphy came through the first 300 meters in 42.52 and the opening 700 in 1:41.16 in the Raleigh Relays. But he was in the lead when he clocked 2:38.55 at the start of the bell lap.
However, Murphy and Langon were not far behind him and even though Martin looked strong as he entered the final turn of the contest, he could not repel the charge of the two Villanova runners in the home straightaway.
Murphy, who ran his last lap in 54.18 seconds in Raleigh, had finished 11th in the 5,000 on the first day of the NCAA indoor championships before placing fourth in the 3,000 the following evening.
Langon finished sixth in the 5,000 before placing seventh in the 3,000.
Roll continues: Grace Hartman of host North Carolina State University continued her breakout junior season when she won the women’s 10,000 meters in 31:20.60 in the Raleigh Relays last Friday.
Joy Naukot of West Virginia placed second in 32:21.84 and fellow freshman Monica Wanjiku of Missouri finished third in 32:21.97.
Hartman had placed fifth in the NCAA cross country championships last November before setting personal bests of 4:24.76 in the mile, 8:46.57 in the 3,000 meters, and 15:11.10 in the 5,000 while finishing sixth in that race in the NCAA indoor track and field championships.
After following pacesetter Gracie Morris through the first 3,600 meters of the race last Friday, Hartman had a lead of more than two seconds on Naukot when she passed four kilometers in 12:45.91.
Although she was basically on her own after that, Hartman picked up the pace as she went through six kilometers in 18:58.47 and eight kilometers in 25:09.76 before finishing in what was then the third-fastest time in collegiate history.
After running 6:24.08 for her first 2,000 meters of the race and 6:21.83 for the second two-kilometer segment, Hartman clocked 6:12.56, 6:11.29, and 6:10.84 for her last three.
Her final three 1,600-meter segments of the race were 4:56.34, 4:57.06, and 4:56.57.
Seventeen and counting: Valarie Allman of the U.S. won her first two competitions of the year in the women’s discus last week to extend her unbeaten streak to 17 consecutive finals.
The 30-year-old, two-time Olympic champion won the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays with a best of 66.72 meters (218 feet 11 inches) last Friday before winning an Oklahoma Throws Series meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, on Sunday with a throw of 63.61 (208-8).
Allman’s 66.72 (218-11) effort in the Texas Relays was the longest throw in the world this year and capped a series in which she also had efforts of 66.21 (217-2), 64.98 (213-2), 64.66 (212-2), and 64.51 (211-7).
Good start: Curtis Thompson of the U.S. raised his personal best to 87.76 (287-11) in winning the men’s javelin in the Texas Relays last Friday.
The 29-year-old Thompson, who had been eliminated in the qualifying round of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in 2023 and in the Olympic Games in Paris last summer, finished 11-plus meters ahead of junior Mike Stein of the University of Iowa, who placed second at 76.69 (251-7).
Thompson’s throw, which came in the second round, was the longest in the world this year, strengthened his hold on third on the all-time U.S. performer list, and topped his previous best of 87.70 (287-8) from 2022, the year in which he placed 11th in the World championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Good start II: Junior Ralford Mullings of the University of Oklahoma moved to second on the all-time collegiate performer list in the men’s discus when he won the Texas Relays with a best of 69.13 (226-9) last Saturday.
Mullings had the six longest throws of the competition as fellow Jamaican Shamar Reid of South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, placed second at 59.81 (196-2).
Mullings, who had finished 13th in the shot put in the NCAA indoor championships two weeks earlier, threw 67.28 (220-9) on his first throw of the outdoor season in the discus before hitting 62.42 (204-9), 67.02 (219-10), and 65.44 214-8) in rounds two through four.
He then improved to 68.16 (223-7) on his fifth throw before unleashing his 69.13 (226-9) effort in the sixth — and final — round.
Great start: Junior Kendrick Smallwood of the University of Texas won the men’s 110-meter high hurdles in a wind-aided time of 13.07 seconds in the Texas Relays last Friday after having run a personal best of 13.35 while finishing first in his qualifying heat earlier in the day.
The 13.07 clocking, which was aided by a breeze of 2.3 meters per second, was the fastest in the world this year under any conditions.
His 13.35 effort crushed his previous best of 13.74 that he had run in 2023 and put him third on the yearly world performer list for the year.
Great start II: Senior Brynn King of Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York, cleared 4.75 (15-7) in winning the women’s pole vault in the Texas Relays last Saturday.
King’s effort was the highest collegiate vault ever outdoors and it topped her previous personal best of 4.73 (15-6¼) that she had set in finishing third in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last year.
It also moved her into a tie for ninth on the all-time U.S. performer list that combines indoor and outdoor marks.
King cleared 4.37 (14-4) and 4.57 (15-0) on her first two jumps of the competition before making 4.75 (15-7) on her second attempt.
With the victory in hand, she then missed all three of her attempts at 4.92 (16-1¾), which was a centimeter higher than the collegiate record of 4.91 (16-1¼) that had been set by sophomore Amanda Moll of Washington during the indoor season.
On the board: Gabby Thomas of the U.S., the defending Olympic champion in the women’s 200 meters, opened her season by running legs on a pair of relay teams in the Texas Relays last Saturday.
A Team USA Red team of the 28-year-old Thomas, Tamari Davis. Jenna Prandini, and Anavia Battle clocked a winning 41.74 seconds in the 4 x 100 relay and that same foursome placed third in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 3:26.59.
A Team International squad of Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred, and Jamaica’s Ackelia Smith won the 4 x 400 relay in 3:25.20.
Another collegiate record: Arkansas recorded the second of three collegiate records set last week when a Razorback foursome won the women’s 4 x 800-meter relay in 8:16.12 in the Texas Relays last Saturday.
Arkansas bettered the previous collegiate best of 8:17.28 set by a Washington quartet last year and the Razorbacks finished more than four seconds ahead of second-place Clemson, which ran 8:20.42.
Analisse Batista was credited with a split of 2:04.8 on her first leg for Arkansas, and she was followed by teammates Ainsley Erzen (2:04.2), Anna Podojil (2:05.5), and Sanu Jallow-Lockhart (2:01.6).
Quick duel: Clemson and Arkansas produced the second- and third-fastest times in collegiate history in the women’s sprint medley relay when they clocked 3:37.77 and 3:38.15, respectively, in finishing 1-2 in the Texas Relays last Friday.
The Clemson foursome was comprised of Aleksandra Stoilova and Aniyah Kitt, who ran the first two 200-meter legs, Shanque Williams, who handled the 400-meter third leg, and Gladys Chepngetich, who ran the 800-meter anchor leg.
Arkansas’ team consisted of Shawnti Jackson, Anya Jackson, Kaylyn Brown, and Sanu Jallow-Lockhart.
Dynamite opener: Dalwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, the Olympic silver medalist in the women’s 400 meters, opened up her outdoor season with a 48.94 clocking in winning the Felix Sanchez Classic in Bayaguana, Dominican Republic, last Saturday.
It was the third-fastest time of Naser’s career and marked the first time in history that a woman has run under 49 seconds in the 400 before late May.
Naser, who also ran a personal best of 22.45 in winning the 200 later in the meet, had run the third-fastest time in history in the 400 when she clocked 48.14 to win the 2019 World title in Doha, Qatar.
Her second-fastest time had come in the Olympic final in Paris last summer when he ran 48.53 while finishing second to the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, who set an Olympic record of 48.17.
Slow start: Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 200 meters, has not had a strong start to this season.
In his latest effort, he ran 45.26 seconds to place second to compatriot Bayapo Ndori (45.14) in the Marie Plant Meet in Melbourne, Australia, last Saturday.
While Tebogo’s time was a season best, the loss was his third in four 400-meter races this year. In contrast, he had run 44.29 in the 400 by this point last year. He had also lowered the world record in the 300 to 30.69.
Moving up in distance: Lachlan Kennedy of Australia, who won a silver medal in the men’s 60-meter dash in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on March 21, ran a personal best of 20.26 seconds to win the 200 in the Marie Plant Meet.
Competing in front of a standing-room only crowd at Lakeside Stadium, the 21-year-old Kennedy ran a strong turn and then held off 17-year-old compatriot Gout Gout in the home straightaway for the victory.
Gout, who clocked 20.30 on Saturday, was the silver medalist in the 200 in last year’s World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru. He had run a yearly world-leading time of 20.05 in a heat of the Queensland Athletics Championships on March 16 before winning the final in a wind-aided 19.98 later in the day.
“I’m absolutely gassed, [as] you can see,” Kennedy said in a nine.com.au post. “I don't run many 200s. This is a bit of a different distance for me. But I'm just happy to be here.”
Two liners: Senior Rachel Glenn of the University of Arkansas won the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 54.86 seconds in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays last Friday. Glenn’s time was tied for the fastest in the world this year with Sarah Carli of Australia and she ran it a day after she had clocked 55.26 in a qualifying heat. . . . . . . Freshman Indya Mayberry of TCU, the NCAA indoor champion in the women’s 200 meters, had a hand in a pair of victories in the Texas Relays last Saturday as she won the 100 in a wind-aided 10.91 and led off the victorious 4 x 100 relay team that ran 42.87. Mayberry’s time in the 100, which was aided by a breeze of 3.9 meters per second, was the fastest in the world this year under any conditions and it left her three hundredths of a second in front of Ohio State senior Leah Bertrand. . . . . . . Tia Jones of the U.S. won the women’s 100 hurdles in a wind-aided 12.57 seconds in the Texas Relays last Friday. It was Jones’ first race since last year’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials, when she had run 12.90 in a qualifying heat before withdrawing from her semifinal. . . . . . . Senior Margot Appleton of the University of Virginia moved to fourth on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s 1,500 when she won the event in 4:05.68 in the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina last Friday. Appleton ran her final lap in 62.84 seconds while defeating a field that included senior Kimberley May of Providence, who finished second in 4:06.58, and sophomore Salma Elbadra of Eastern Kentucky, who placed third in 4:06.90. . . . . . . Eleanor Patterson of Australia, the silver medalist in the women’s high jump in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, won that event at a height of 1.94 meters (6 feet 4¼ inches) in the Marie Plant Meet in Melbourne, Australia, last Saturday. Patterson and compatriot Nicola Olyslagers had each cleared 1.97 (6-5½) in Nanjing, but Olyslagers had won her second consecutive title because she had fewer total misses during the competition than did Patterson.
Looking forward: Grand Slam Track, the professional track league created by Michael Johnson, will kick off its inaugural season later today with a meet in Kingston, Jamaica.
Peacock’s coverage of the three-day competition will start at 6 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, in the U.S. today and Saturday, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Grand Slam Track also announced last week that it had signed agreements with 21 global broadcasters to show the event in 189 countries and territories around the world.
Seven athletes who won gold medals in an individual event in the Olympic Games in Paris are scheduled to compete in the meet, as are another 16 performers who combined to win 17 silver or bronze medals in Paris.
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