FRISCO, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team swept one side of the weekly conference honors on Wednesday afternoon, as it was announced by the league office that sophomore
Elizabeth Khatevi and junior
Natalia Rankin-Chitar were named the Southland Conference Women's Track Athlete and Women's Field Athlete of the Week for the voting period of April 15-21.
With the two awards for Khatevi and Rankin-Chitar, the Islanders have now taken home some hardware in three consecutive weeks, with Khatevi herself winning the same award back on April 8 and
Colin Benton being tabbed Men's Track Athlete of the Week just one week ago. A&M-Corpus Christi has also now had two different athletes honored in the same week on two separate occasions so far this year, with the other won coming when
Kye Lowth and
Cyan Green won Men's Track and Women's Field Athletes of the Week during indoor season on February 18.
For Khatevi, the two awards she has won this year are her first two for track season during her career with the team, albeit with each of the last five Cross Country Athlete of the Week awards dating all the way back October 23, 2024 in tow. Rankin Chitar, on the other hand, takes home her first of any kind since joining the program prior to this season.
Khatevi earned her award on the strength of an incredible showing at the prestigious Bryan Clay Invitational last week, where she competed against some of the best distance runners in the country and took down two of her own school records and one Southland Conference all-time record. Her first race came in the 800m, where she posted a time of 2:03.41 to top her previous best of 2:07.53 at the same meet last year by more than four seconds and give her a ninth-place finish overall out of nearly 140 competitors. She then put together an even more impressive effort in the 1500m, featuring in the elite section of the meet and finishing with a blazing-fast time of 4:10.13 to finish eighth and smash her old high of 4:17.03 by nearly 10 seconds. This mark not only sits as the best time in the Southland this year by more than five seconds, but it is also the best ever recorded in the conference, easily surpassing the time of 4:16.48 posted by Jessica Rabius of HCU back in 2024.
Rankin-Chitar also competed in California alongside Khatevi, where she took home the individual victory in the women's shot put. After qualifying for the finals early on, the New Zealander unleashed her career-best throw in her first try of the next round, reaching a mark of 15.58m that was nearly half a meter better than second place by the end of the event. In addition to earning her the gold medal, this throw now ranks Rankin-Chitar at the top of the Southland Conference as of Wednesday, moving her just ahead of Jaslyn Russell of McNeese at 15.51m.
"What a weekend it was!" Islanders head coach
Bryan Jackson said. "I am extremely proud of both Elizabeth and Natalia. Both have had great seasons, and I can't wait to see what the postseason has in store for them!"
The Islanders will now take the coming weekend off before heading to their final tune up of the outdoor regular season, traveling to Dallas on May 2 to compete at the SMU Invitational
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