Donald Speas
Jun 112 min
Updated: Jun 12
Earlier today, sources informed The Stride Report that Alabama star Hilda Olemomoi has entered the transfer portal. Olemomoi is expected to have two seasons of eligibility remaining in cross country and one season of eligibility remaining in both outdoor track and indoor track (each).
Since transferring to Alabama from Iowa Western Community College after the 2022 outdoor track season, Olemomoi has been one of the premier distance runners in both the SEC and the county. While in the NCAA, Olemomoi has run personal bests of 4:14 (1500), 8:45 (3k), 15:06 (5k) and 31:51 (10k). In addition to her blazing personal bests on the track, she has recorded two top-10 finishes at the NCAA XC Championships.
Across all three seasons of competition, Olemomoi has racked up a whopping nine All-American honors.
All this to say, that Olemomoi will be one of the biggest impact transfers in recent memory and will provide immense value to whatever program she chooses to attend in the future.
Now the big question is, which program will be lucky enough to land the soon-to-be-former Crimson Tide phenom? In our eyes, three programs stick out as great fits for Olemomoi: the Florida Gators, the Arkansas Razorbacks and the New Mexico Lobos.
The Florida women have risen to national prominence in recent years. The dominance of Parker Valby has helped (to say the least), but the introduction of Will Palmer as the team’s newest distance coach has been arguably just as important.
With former Alabama runner Flomena Asekol joining the Florida women last year and a pair of New Mexico stars also joining the Gators last summer, the Florida women were able to place 6th overall at the NCAA XC Championships back in November.
Now, with Hilda Olemomoi in the transfer portal, it is plenty possible that she could reunite with her coach and continue the team’s ongoing success.
The Arkansas Razorbacks, who just won the team title at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships and finished 9th at the 2023 cross country national meet. They lose only one athlete from their top-five. Throw in a low-stick like Olemomoi and the Razorbacks become serious podium contenders.
The University of New Mexico is another contender to consider. Last summer, the Lobos swung big and picked up a handful of talented male international runners who have gone on to have great success in the NCAA.
And hey, if it worked for the men, why not try it with the women?
Well, they've already started, bringing over steeplechase and cross country star Pamela Kosgei from Kenya. I can't help but think that pairing Kosgei and Olemomoi would surely combine for a lethal low-stick duo on the grass.
With a history of developing junior college talent such as Adva Cohen (albeit, under a different coaching staff), the Lobos could be a serious contender to land Olemomoi.
No matter where she lands, Hilda Olemomoi will almost certainly be a program-changing transfer who could completely change how we view a team heading into this upcoming fall cross country season.
NOTE: Any discussion regarding potential landing spots for athletes entered in the transfer portal are strictly speculative unless otherwise noted in the article.