AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team had a very strong opener to its split weekend at the 98
th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays and the Bobcat Invitational on Thursday, getting a whole host of personal-best efforts between the two meets and capping things off with a big win from sophomore
Elizabeth Khatevi in Austin.
The most impressive showing of the day was Khatevi's performance in the women's 1500m at the Texas Relays, winning the gold medal at the prestigious meet after crossing the line with a time of 4:24.82. As has become her signature, Khatevi made her move in the final split of the race, surpassing three other competitors to finish just half a second ahead of conference rival Sannae Hassnaoui of East Texas A&M for the top spot in the race. This time was also just a few seconds off her own high mark of 4:21.47, which she set at last year's Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.
Beyond Khatevi, A&M-Corpus Christi also had a few other notable races on the track in Austin, starting first with sophomore
Neele Heyne in the women's 3000m steeplechase, where she clocked in at 10:49.71 to improve on her personal best by nearly 10 seconds and place third in the field overall. This also helped Heyne rise three spots up to No. 2 in program history in the event, behind only teammate
Micah Mizell's time of 10:46.71 at the 2025 Southland Conference Outdoor Championships. Earlier in the day on the men's side, sophomore
Dillon Smith placed fourth overall in the men's 800m invitational with a time of 1:50.51 to move to third in program history in the event and just .10 seconds off of teammate
Philip Jensen e Castro's record, and to wrap up the evening. sophomore
Kye Lowth made his way into the record books in the men's 5000m by finishing with a time of 14:31.58 to debut at sixth all-time.
Over at the Bobcat Invitational, the best effort on the oval was in the sprints group, coming from freshman
Colin Benton in the men's 200m. After entering the meet coming off a time of 21.61 at the outdoor season-opening UTSA Invitational, Benton put together a huge personal record on Thursday, clocking in at 21.34 to finish fifth out of 43 competitors in his section. This debuted Benton all the way up in a tie for second place all-time in program history, with Dubem Nwachukwu's record of 21.13 set back in 2019 not far away. On the distance side later in the day, junior
Mathayo Bundotich also finished near the top of his field in the men's 5000m, placing second overall with a time of 14:36.54 to climb one spot up to seventh in program history in his first outdoor meet of the year.
As has become customary, the throws group also showed up in San Marcos, starting with a new personal record of 44.30m in the women's discus for sophomore
Tania Amos that moved her up to seventh in program history. On the men's side of the same event, freshman
Ty Domel cracked his third different top 10 of the young outdoor season, this time placing 10
th with a throw of 42.61m. Finally, sophomore
Edyn Breaux reached a best throw of 30.01m in the women's javelin, debuting at ninth in Islanders history in just her second-ever meet competing in the event after adding it to her repertoire prior to this year.
The Islanders will now try to continue their momentum in the second day of both meets on Friday, getting underway in Austin at 9 a.m. and in San Marcos at 10 a.m.
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