STEPHENVILLE, Tex. — Tarleton State Track and Field historic indoor season was continued with a few more accolades following the announcement of the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I South Central Region end of the year awards.

Following the first NCAA Division I title in the program history, Lokesh Sathyanathan was named the South Central Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year. On the coaching side, the historic performance by the women's team to win the WAC Championship, place 23rd at the NCAA Championships, and boast two First Team All-Americans led the coaches to recognition. Head coach Bobby Carter was named the South Central Region D1 Women's Coach of the Year and assistant coach Timothy Thompson was tabbed the South Central Region D1 Women's Assistant Coach of the Year.

Lokesh Sathyanathan earned the program's first USTFCCCA NCAA D1 South Central Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year honor. The Karnataka, India, native, became the school's first D1 national champion in indoors or outdoors in any event. Sathyanathan is also the first Indian-born athlete to win an NCAA men's long jump title and is the fourth all-time to win any NCAA title. With his championship-winning leap of 8.21 meters, he set the new Indian national record. Not only does the junior have the best mark in the NCAA this year, but he also is tied for 11th in the world, the highest ranking of his career. He owns the top three leaps ever in his country's history indoors with leaps of 8.01, 8.17 and 8.21 meters. His best leap is third all-time in India in the long jump either indoors or outdoors, with the only two better marks coming outdoors.

Sathyanathan is the school record holder in the indoor long jump with the top 12 indoor jumps ever in program history. This indoor season he made 11 jumps over 7.79 meters, with three breaking the eight-meter mark. Despite placing second at the WAC Championships in the long jump, he qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships with an 8.01-meter leap earlier in the year, which ranked in the top 10 during the regular season. He has earned back-to-back appearances at the Indoor Championships and has made three-straight NCAA Championships with the last two indoor and last year's outdoor. He was selected as the WAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week three times during the indoor slate.

Bobby Carter added USTFCCCA NCAA D1 South Central Region Women's Coach of the Year to his growing collection of accolades this season. The 2026 WAC Women's Indoor Coach of the Year is fresh off the Texans' highest performance in program history at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Texan women tied for 23rd overall with an all-time best 10 points. Among non-Power Four programs, the Texans placed third at the meet. Carter helped coach a pair of First Team All-Americans and an athlete with two Second Team All-American honors at the meet as well. Victoria Cameron placed third in the 60 meters and Prestina Ochonogor posted her best career finish at an NCAA Championships placing fifth in the long jump to earn her third All-American title.

Carter led the Texan women to their first conference title in program history winning the WAC Indoor Championships with a school record 180.5 points. The Texan women had Tayler Wessely tie for Female Field Performer of the meet with 16 points in her two events. Cameron was also tabbed the WAC Female Athlete of the Year for her performance in the 60 meters breaking the all-time WAC record twice and running a top 10 time all-time collegiately during the season in 7.08 seconds. At the WAC Championships, the Texan women won seven gold medals and posted 15 top three performances. The squad also set seven new school records and three all-time WAC records. Throughout the season, three different women were named WAC Athlete of the Week.

The second-year head coach helped lead the Texan women to their first USTFCCCA Division I top 25 ranking in program history. The Texans cracked the top 25, ranking 22nd in the each of the final two weeks of the season. Tarleton State also posted their highest regional ranking in program history pushing up to sixth. At the end of the regular season, he had a duo rank in the top two in their event. Cameron was tied for the NCAA lead in the 60 meters and Ochonogor ranked second in the long jump. As event groups, the Purple and White had four ranked in the top 20. The 60-meter group ranked fourth, long jump was 16th, 200 meters was 19th and triple jump was also 19th in the final event group rankings.

Timothy Thompson, Coach T, was named the USTFCCCA NCAA D1 South Central Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year, the first honor of his Texan career. Thompson serves as an assistant coach for the Texans working with the sprints events. This year Thompson sent two of his athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships with Lauren Roy being one of five women qualifying in the 60 and 200 and Cameron in the 60 meters. Cameron earned the first First Team All-American honor by a Texan sprinter in the D1 era, and Roy earned a pair of Second Team All-American recognitions. Cameron placed third in the 60 meters, scoring six points for the Texans that placed 23rd in the nation at the meet.

Thompson's sprinters played a pivotal role in the women's Indoor WAC title. The sprint events accounted for four gold medals and seven total top three finishes. Cameron and Roy each set all-time WAC and championship meet records at the WAC Championships. He helped guide Cameron to be selected as the WAC Female Athlete of the Year after her performance at the championships. He helped guide the sprinters to a pair of top 20 event group rankings. The 60-meter squad ended the season as the fourth-best event group in the 60, with their highest ranking of the season coming in at second overall. The 200-meter squad also boasted a top 20 ranking, ending the season at 19th. The Texans were also ranked 22nd in the NCAA and sixth in the South Central Region, both program highs.

With each of these three earning the regional awards, they now advance in the voting to the national ballot. They will be on the ballot with each of the other eight award winners from the other regions. The Texans have never had a national award winner in any level in program history.

Tarleton State will begin their outdoor slate on Friday at the ACU Wes Kittley Invitational. The Texans will send a full squad with distance and throwers competing on Friday and sprints, jumps and throws competing on Saturday at Elmer Gray Stadium.