Johnson, Hardy, Stewart receive Sun Belt superlatives

The Sun Belt Conference announced that senior thrower T’Mond Johnson, senior sprinter Tramesha Hardy and Texas State head coach Jody Stewart were each honored with one of the league’s annual specialty awards.

Johnson was named the Men’s Most Outstanding Field Performer. Johnson swept the indoor and outdoor men’s shot put at the Sun Belt meets for the third season in a row. He holds a personal record of 19.79 meters in the event. Johnson was also a bronze medalist in the discus throw in the outdoor conference championship this season, tossing for 52.17 meters

Hardy earned the Women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer award. Hardy was the highest scoring individual at the outdoor conference meet, racking up 21.5 points. She took silver at the championship while beating her personal-best time in the 100 meters, clocking in at 11.35 seconds. Like Johnson, she holds gold medals in the Sun Belt indoor and outdoor 200 meters in each of the past three seasons.

Stewart was selected as the Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year after leading the Bobcat men to their first outdoor title in program history. Stewart now has eight Coach of the Year awards in four seasons with the team as well as eight league championships, tied with former head coach Galina Bukharina for most in school history.

“We are so proud of these guys,” Stewart said in a statement. “For three days they fought tough and for each other. It was great to enjoy the moment with this group of guys. They stuck with us and trusted the process. I am blessed to have an outstanding coaching staff. We've had some historical accomplishments in our four years. The university's first triple crown, first Sun Belt women's cross country championship, the first men's outdoor Sun Belt championship, an NCAA championship appearance every year and eight championships in total. We have a talented, young, tough team and we're just getting started!”

A few Texas State student-athletes will move on to the NCAA West Preliminary regional meet, taking place May 23-25 in Sacramento, California, for a chance to advance to the 2019 NCAA Outdoor National Championships on June 5-8 in Austin.