Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Sep 17, 20231 min
Earlier this year, The Stride Report detailed that New Mexico was adding Habtom Samuel Keleta to their 2023 cross country roster. The Eritrean superstar holds times of 13:13 for 5000 meters and 27:20 for 10,00 meters. He also finished 17th at the 2023 World XC Championships.
Despite Coach Joe Franklin leaving the Lobos for Louisville earlier this summer, the New Mexico men have still been able to add top-notch distance talents via their international recruiting efforts. Evans Kiplagat and Lukas Kiprop, two incoming freshmen from Kenya, are both joining this team with some outstanding personal bests.
The recruiting development was first highlighted by Joshua Grenade via Instagram.
Lukas Kiprop holds marks that make him one of the absolute best distance runners in the entire NCAA. With personal bests of 7:41 (3k) and 13:28 (5k), both of which are listed on his World Athletics profile, the Kenyan rookie should immediately be favored for All-American honors and could eventually emerge as a national title contender.
Evans Kiplagat, meanwhile, is someone rumored to hold personal bests of 8:09 (3k) and 13:43 (5k). The Stride Report has been able to confirm Kiplagat's 3k mark, but has yet to find firm evidence of his 5k time.
By returning Jonathan Carmin, adding a D2 All-American transfer in Thomas Termote and recruiting a nationally competitive freshman in Steven West (the 2022 Garmin RunningLane cross country national champion), Coach Darren Gauson has quickly transformed the Lobo men into one of the more formidable cross country programs in the NCAA entering 2023.
According to one source, the New Mexico men are expected to field many (or all) of their top athletes at the Griak Invitational this coming Friday.