HOUSTON, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team closed out the 2025 season on the final day of the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships on Saturday afternoon, taking home four gold medals and six medals in total to push its count up to 13 across the three-day event.
In the team standings, the women finished in fourth in the conference with 93 total points, matching their finish in 2022 as the best performance at an Outdoor Championship in program history. They ranked behind champions Northwestern State, Lamar and UTRGV, with the four teams finishing exactly how they did at the Indoor Championships back in March.
"This is a special group, and they had a special weekend to cap off a special year!" said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "These women have put us on a trajectory that I am very excited about."
On the other side, the men came in ninth place among all teams with a total of 48 points. This was an identical finish to the one that they recorded at the 2024 Outdoor Championships, albeit with a 16-point improvement from year to year. The eventual winner ended up being Stephen F. Austin, with the Lumberjacks completing the sweep after also emerging victorious during indoor season.
"We have a talented bunch, but we had some growing pains this year," Jackson said. "This team score does not reflect what this group of men are capable of. We will take these lessons and grow from them."
The story of the meet among all teams on Saturday was the performance of freshman
Elizabeth Khatevi, who took home the gold in all three of her events on the day in one of the most incredible single-day performances in Islanders history. Khatevi started her historic effort in the 1,500m finals, taking home the win by just .07 seconds after overtaking Houston Christian's Eline Mast on the home stretch. Her next race came in the 800m finals soon after, where she held off a pair of UTRGV competitors to earn victory by .46 seconds. Finally, the Kenya native accomplished the improbable feat in the 5,000m, completing the trifecta by beating out Lamar's Inca Padfield in another tight race that finished within one second. For her outstanding show, Khatevi took home a pair of individual awards at the end of the day, earning both the Southland Conference Women's Most Valuable Performer and Freshman of the Year.
"I am still in shock about what Elizabeth just accomplished," Jackson said. "Winning three distance races in a single championship is an unbelievable accomplishment, not to mention doing it as a freshman! I couldn't be more proud of the young lady she is and how hard she works. But that is really true about the entire women's team!"
The remaining gold medal on the day went to another freshman on the other side, with
Philip Jensen e Castro taking home first place in the men's 800m. Jensen e Castro came out on top in an absolutely phenomenal race, entering the final straightaway in fourth before surpassing all three runners in front of him at the very last second to finish with a time of 1:50.98 that came in just .07 seconds ahead of both Tray'Quan Francis of McNeese and Luke Parker of Lamar. His time was almost two seconds better than the one he posted in prelims the day before, and it came just shy of breaking his own school record in the event set on April 17.
Rounding out the podium finishes on the final day were a pair of competitors on the women's side. The first was a silver medal from senior
Nyadhol Thichiot, who wrapped up her collegiate career by finishing second in the women's triple jump with a mark of 12.53m. This was Thichiot's second medal in the event at a conference championship this season, also earning the bronze during indoor season. Later on in the day, freshman
Alicia Finnis added on to the count in the women's 5,000m, finishing third in the race after coming in less than two seconds behind Khatevi at the front of the pack. Finnis also earned her second medal in the event this year, adding to her trophy case after winning the indoor version of the race back in March.
Saturday also saw another individual accolade for the Islanders, with sophomore
Emmanuel Ekuma being named Southland Conference Men's Newcomer of the Year. In his first season on the Island, Ekuma took down the A&M-Corpus Christi outdoor school records in both the hammer throw and the shot put while debuting at No. 2 in the discus throw. Over the weekend, he earned two individual medals of his own, taking home bronze in each of the first two and finishing in 10
th in the latter.
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