FRISCO, Texas – Elizabeth Khatevi of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team was honored with yet another accolade for her standout sophomore season on Thursday morning, as it was announced by the league office that she was named the Southland Conference Women's Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Khatevi helped secure the award with a terrific performance at the SLC Outdoor Championships last weekend, where she was named the meet's Most Valuable Performer on the women's side after leading all competitors with 24 individual points. She won three different medals on the final day of competition, punctuated by a gold in the 5000m in which she set the new all-time meet record with a time of 16:37.26. The Kenyan also earned silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 800m with times of 4:11.41 and 2:11.30 respectively, bringing her medal count up to a whopping nine -- including seven golds -- combined across three conference championship meets over the past year.
In addition to this, Khatevi also made history throughout the regular season as well, most notably setting both the A&M-Corpus Christi and Southland Conference all-time records in the 1500m with a time of 4:10.13 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California on April 18. At the same meet, she also set another Islanders program record in the 800m, doing so by crossing the line in 2:03.41. As of Thursday, she currently sits near the top of the NCAA South Central region in all three of her primary events, ranking second in the 1500m, sixth in the 800m and 17
th in the 5000m.
The honors helped Khatevi earn herself a sweep of the conference awards for the entire 2026 track and field season, as she also completed the trifecta of Athlete of the Year, Most Valuable Performer and Most Outstanding Running Events Performer during indoor season this year as well. All of these accolades add to her extensive trophy case since joining the program for the 2024-25 school year, which also includes last year's Outdoor MVP and Freshman of the Year, back-to-back individual SLC Cross Country titles and a 46
th place finish at the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the best finish by a woman in school history.
Alongside Khatevi, 10 other Islanders were also named to the Southland Conference Outdoor All-Conference Teams in 13 different events, which were awarded based on finishes at the Outdoor Championships. The full list of honorees can be found below:
First Team
Second Team
Third Team
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