Bobcats claim gold, awards at Sun Belt Conference meet

Taahir Kelly was named the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Outdoor Track Co-Performer of the Year while Grady Leonard and Elisabet Runarsdottir were named Men’s Newcomer and Women’s Freshman of the Year, respectively.

The conference announced its full slate of end-of-season awards for the outdoor campaign Thursday.

In addition to the trio earning individual honors voted on by the conference coaches, Kelly and Dominick Yancy were recognized as the men’s high-point scorers from the 2023 Sun Belt Championships last week in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

There were also 18 Bobcats who earned All-Sun Belt accolades this season.

Kelly won three gold medals at the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships and finished first in five of the six races he ran in either the preliminaries and finals of four different events.

He won the men’s 200 and then helped the men’s 4x100 and 4x400 capture first place.

Kelly also finished second in the men’s 400, falling to Yancy by .05 of a second.

Kelly became the first Bobcat to win a conference title in the men’s 200 since 2012 (James Johnson).

Kelly is only one of two Bobcats to claim the 200 title in that event in 29 years.

A senior out of Washington, D.C., Kelly is the first Bobcat to ever earn the Sun Belt Men’s Outdoor Track Performer of the Year and first to win the honor in any conference since Keevan Mills in 1993.

Leonard, in his first year at Texas State after joining as a graduate transfer from Idaho, finished runner-up in both the men’s shot put and hammer throw at the conference championships.

Leonard also finished sixth in the discus.

This was only the second time all year he competed in the event. This time Leonard scored 19 points for the Bobcats in the team standings.

It is the third year in a row a Bobcat has earned the Men’s Newcomer of the Year honor.

Originally from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Leonard set the school record in the men’s hammer throw (66.65 meters/218-8) in his lone season as a Bobcat, and he currently owns seven of the topeight marks in program history.

He had 11 podium finishes throughout the outdoor season, including three first-place finishes.

Runarsdottir won the women’s hammer throw at the conference championships with a distance of 65.53 meters/215-0.

The throw by the Iceland native was an Icelandic record and 10thbest in school history.

She is the second Bobcat in as many years to win the Sun Belt’s championship in the women’s hammer throw and fifth all-time in program history.

Across seven outdoor meets this year, Runarsdottir had top-three finishes in six of them. She finished first three times.

Runarsdottir is also the first Bobcat to be named the conference’s top freshman in the outdoor season since Devina Schneider in 2017 and fourth overall since Texas State joined the Sun Belt in 2013-14.

Kelly and Yancy were the first Bobcats to win the men’s high-point scorer award at an outdoor conference championship since 2013 (Timothy Young).

For the All-Sun Belt honors, the men’s team had six make first team, while the women had five.

Five freshmen also claimed all-conference awards: Runarsdottir, Utitofon Sam (Second Team), Melanie Duron (Third Team), Chris Preddie (First Team), and Aiden Hayes (Third Team).

Texas State is ready to compete next at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor West Prelims which are going to be held in Sacramento, California, from May 24-27.