COLUMBIA, Mo. – Sophomore
Elizabeth Khatevi of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi cross country team concluded her historic season at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning, crossing the line in the women's 6k with a time of 19:29.4 to finish in 46
th place out of 262 competitors.
Khatevi became just the seventh Islander to ever compete at nationals when the gun sounded on Saturday, and her placement was the best for any woman in program history at the biggest meet of the season, easily surpassing the previous high of 125
th set by Anne Ronoh in 2008. For either side, she now possesses the third-best finish in school history, behind only A&M-Corpus Christi Hall of Honor inductee and fellow countryman Shadrack Songok, who finished 19
th in the men's 10k in 2006 and then 7
th in the same race a year later.
Khatevi stayed near the top of the pack for the entirety of the race, clocking in at 43
rd at the first 1,000-meter split and never falling below 52
nd for the remainder of her time on the course. As she has done many times this year, the Kenyan made a move in the home stretch, kicking over the final 1,000 meters to overtake six other competitors on her way to the finish line. Her performance helped her stand among some of the best teams in the country, as she finished higher in the individual standings than the fifth finisher for eventual team champions North Carolina State and the final two scorers for second-place BYU.
The championship race helped cap off what goes down as the greatest individual women's season in the history of the Islanders cross country program. Khatevi won six of the seven meets that she competed in this year, which included her second Southland Conference individual championship in as many years and a victory at the NCAA South Central Regional Championship last week. At two of these meets, she broke school records in both the 5k and the 6k, doing so in the former with a time of 16:36.8 at the Gerald Richey UTA Invitational on September 5 and in the latter at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on October 17 with a time of 18:56.1. She also added numerous pieces of hardware to her already large trophy case, earning the Southland Conference Women's Athlete of the Year Award, an All-SLC First Team honor, an NCAA South Central All-Region Team nod and four different SLC Women's Athlete of the Week Awards throughout 2025.
"What an unbelievable season!" Islanders head coach
Bryan Jackson said. "I'm beyond proud of Elizabeth for how she competed today and all year long. Getting top 50 at this meet in her first ever time at nationals is a great result."
#ShakasUp
