CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

Track wins first Sun Belt Championship since 2018

The Texas State women’s track team brought home the program’s first conference championship since 2018 by winning the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track Meet.

The Bobcats and Head Coach John Frazier won the meet by scoring 120.2 points, beating out Louisiana who finished with 115.7 points.

“I’m very excited and proud of this team,” Frazier said. “From the time that we started, everyone knew they had a role to play for us to do this. Then it was systemically making sure that everyone was together and on the same page. Yeah, we had a couple of mishaps where we were not able to perform the best, but people stepped up to make this happen.”

Sophomore Taejha Badal helped clinch the conference title, running on the Bobcats 4X400 Meter Relay team along with Kerrington Johnson, Daneille Lynch and Ma’Khi Falkquay “It’s amazing, and we are so excited,” Bahdal said. “We put in a lot of hard work going into it, and we knew we had a chance to put it together and for it to actually happen. It was an amazing feeling and really brought us together.”

Going into the last race of the conference meet and having already competed in the multiple events, Badal having captured the second place in the 200-meter sprint and the fifth place in the 100-meter sprint, the team knew they needed to pull together to nab those critical points to secure the conference title.

“With the mile relay being the last event of the day, most of us had the whole week on our legs,” Bahdal said. “So we went into it really tired. Coach [Frazier] pulled us together and made sure we knew what we needed to score, because we needed points. We didn’t have too much pressure on our backs, so we went out there and did our very best. We didn’t need to win the race, but we needed to put something on the board.”

One of the reasons the mile relay team did not need to win the event was because of the efforts of the discus, hammer and shot put throwers.

Texas State claimed first place in all three events while also claiming second place in both the shot put and the hammer.

Sophomore Elisabet Runarsdottir won the hammer throw. That wasn’t a surprise as she owns the national record in the event in her country of Iceland.

“I was just trying to have a good technical meet to set myself up for regionals,” Runarsdottir said. “I [focused] on doing good technical things that would help for regionals, so I can perform well too.”

Sophomore Melanie Duron took first place in the Shot Put while senior Lauryn Small took second place. Behind Runarsdottir in the hammer throw was freshman Lara Roberts who placed second. Sophomore Utitofon Sam took the gold in the discus throw.

The domination of the throwers put the Bobcats in the excellent position of taking the conference title, which Runarsdottir is proud of.

“It means all the work we put in has really paid off,” Runarsdottir said. “Everything we have been working towards is working. It is super fun to have this great competition and to come out on top.”

With everyone pulling their weight in the conference meet, the Bobcats were able to put themselves in the position of winning the title.

“The goal going into the meet is to go in there and do your job,” Frazier said. “Focus on what you need to do and support your teammates. Everyone across the board focused on what they needed to do. Then the people who were unable to perform to their best were able to support teammates. It is the best camaraderie I’ve seen since I have been here.”

Knowing the Bobcats had put themselves in good position, Bahdal felt the pressure ease off a bit heading into the final race.

“It was very comforting,” Bahdal said. “With the meet starting off with [the throwing events], we started off ahead and had a cushion. It sets the tone for all the runners and the people competing. It was comforting to know that you didn’t need to carry the team, rather you just needed to do your very best on that day and give it your all. That was going to be enough to get that win.”

However the race did not go well for the mile relay team.

“I got the baton in last place in our heat,” Bahdal said. “I was already stressed since there are two heats, and we needed to get into the top eight to score points while staying on the board to get ahead. I couldn’t count where they were at in the race, so I needed to focus on trying to get as many points on my leg.”

Knowing the team needed those critical points and unsure where they would land in the overall standings with the relay race being split into two heats, Bahdal took off.

“When I got the baton, I tried to go out there and do the most for my team,” Bahdal said. “I got on the backstretch and saw I was closing in to eighth place. I knew we were going to be a little safer, but I was still unsure where the other team would get in the heat. So I was trying to get as many people as I could in the last 100 [meters]. I got two people on the last curve and the last straight away. Then coming in, I saw one person in front of me slowing down at the finish line. I took a big step and leaned her out because I was trying to get as many people as I could to score as many points as possible to secure the win.”

Bahdal beat out the anchor leg from Marshall by just .04 seconds to secure sixth place overall and seal the team’s conference championships.

Coming across the finish, Bahdal not only felt a sense of accomplishment but reassurance.

“It was a relief,” Bahdal said. “I had just come back from a track meet in the Bahamas and went straight into a conference. I was exhausted, hurting and stressed that I wasn’t going to be able to perform at my best. I felt that I was coming into the [track meet], I was sacrificing my conference in order to do something as big as I did at the Bahamas.”

With the nerves building up from the start of the relay to the moment she got the baton, Bahdal felt the support of her teammates pushing her to finish the race.

“Waiting for the 4X400, I felt that my individual races were not 100%, so I was nervous about if I could actually give it my all and do enough for the team,” Bahdal said. “But when I started running, another gear kicked in. The adrenaline, the atmosphere of the conference, my whole team, the filled stands – it didn’t feel like I was running for me but for everyone else, and they were helping me through that race.”

Texas State brought home the conference title but the celebration was not done yet.

Coming back to San Marcos, the Bobcats were joined by Texas State President Kelly Damphousse for an ice cream sundae celebration before capping it off by jumping into the San Marcos River at Sewell Park.

Texas State will compete at the NCAA Preliminaries where a number of athletes will have a shot at competing at the NCAA National Meet in Eugene, Oregon.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc