Pamela Kosgei has been named Mountain West Female Athlete of the Year for the 2024-25 academic year after a standout freshman season, according to an announcement from the league on Thursday.
Kosgei is the first University of New Mexico (UNM) athlete to win this award since Amelia Mazza-Downie in 2022-23. Previous recipients from UNM’s cross country and track & field programs include Weini Kelati, Josh Kerr, and Courtney Frerichs. Jodi Ewart remains the only non-track and field athlete from New Mexico to have received this honor.
During her freshman year, Kosgei earned both Mountain West Cross Country Freshman and Athlete of the Year awards. She led the Lobos to a team title with a first-place finish at conference championships and was national runner-up at NCAA Cross Country Championships, helping UNM secure seventh place nationally as a team.
In spring 2025, Kosgei contributed significantly to UNM’s sweep of both Mountain West Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field women’s team titles—a first in program history—by winning five individual events: Indoor Mile, Indoor 3,000m, Indoor 5,000m, Outdoor 5,000m, and Outdoor Steeplechase. Her performances accounted for 50 points in team scoring.
Following her collegiate season, Kosgei qualified for Kenya’s senior national team ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (September 13-21), where she will compete in the 3,000m steeplechase.
“In the indoor season,” notes UNM XC/T&F on social media, “Kosgei ran the fifth-fastest indoor 5,000m in collegiate history (15:00.36) to open the season.” She went on to qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships in both distance events; she finished third in the 5K and eleventh in the 3K after a fall during competition.
Kosgei completed an undefeated outdoor collegiate season by winning titles in both the 5000m and 10,000m at NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. Her time of 31:17.82 set a meet record and ranked third all-time among college athletes; she also holds second place with a previous mark of 31:02.73. At April’s Bryan Clay Invitational she posted a time of 14:52.45 in the 5K—second fastest ever by a collegian—missing the collegiate record by just .27 seconds.
She also won steeplechase at Stanford Invitational with what was then No.2 all-time collegiate performance (9:15.93). In Albuquerque’s Don Kirby Tailwind Twilight meet at high altitude (5,120 feet), she clocked another fast time over ten kilometers—31:58.51—the best ever by any woman outside Africa at such elevation.
Kosgei became only the fifth woman in NCAA history to win both the outdoor championship’s five- and ten-thousand-meter races; only three have done so since 1998. She is also UNM’s first female athlete since Weini Kelati (2019) to earn first-team All-American honors in two different events at one championship.
The Lobo women finished ninth overall at nationals with their second-highest point total ever (25), following their sweep of conference titles earlier that May. Combined men’s and women’s teams scored a record-breaking total of 56 points—the most ever for UNM—and marked their first simultaneous Top Ten finishes nationally. Among non-power five schools nationwide, New Mexico stands out as one of four programs achieving Top Ten status for both men and women alongside USC, Texas A&M, and Arkansas; it is also alone nationally for placing both squads Top Ten at NCAA Cross Country as well as Outdoor Track & Field Championships during this academic year.
Earlier this summer Kosgei was named a finalist for The Bowerman—the highest honor awarded annually to collegiate track & field athletes—becoming only its fourth-ever female freshman finalist alongside Sydney McLaughlin (2018), Sha’Carri Richardson (2019), and Athing Mu (2021). She is also The Bowerman's first finalist representing either New Mexico or any Mountain West institution.
The Bowerman recognizes three female finalists each December following voting by fans and officials.
Kosgei further distinguished herself academically by earning National Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors from USTFCCCA while maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.33 as a public health major.
