Texas Rio Grande Valley Athletics

Xavier Richardson entered the 2015-2016 competitive season as Head Coach for the UTRGV Track & Field and Cross-Country teams for his fourth full year. Richardson took over the reins in the spring of 2012, and had spent the previous three Cross-Country and two Track and Field seasons as an Assistant Coach with the program. Under Richardson, the program has seen numerous NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifiers, Conference Champions and All-Conference Performances, as well as school records and Top-5 All-Time Performances. He works directly with the sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, multis and sprint-relay teams.
 
In his third season as head coach, Richardson guided the program to four outdoor Western Athletic Conference championships as senior Javier Carretero won the men’s hammer throw, freshman Paul May won the shot put, senior Cristina Santiago Bravo won the women’s hammer throw and senior Geneva Anderson won the women’s 400-meter hurdles.
 
Last season, the program set five new program records while recording 45 top-five all-time performances. There were 25 First Team All-Conference performances last season led by May who was named the WAC Freshman of the Year. Under Richardson’s guidance, the program continued their streak of seven straight years sending at least one representative to the NCAA Championships West Preliminary Round as Carretero, Bravo and Anderson each qualified for the first time in their careers.
 
Records and Achievements at UTPA/UTRGV: Head Coach, 2012 - present (as of August 2016):
 
12 NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifiers
39 Conference Champions
116 First-Team All-Conference Performances
27 UTRGV School Records
175 Top-5 All-time UTRGV Performances
1 USA Junior Outdoor National Championships qualifier
 
In his third season as head coach, he led the program to three Western Athletic Conference championships in the outdoor season. Freshman Isaac Samuels highlighted the men’s team by winning the discus throw. Junior Cristina Santiago Bravo followed with a win in the hammer throw and senior Deandra Barroso capped it off with a win in the 400-meter hurdles for the second season in a row.
 
The 2015 season saw several program records broken throughout the year. The program also garnished 37 First-Team All-Conference performances while also seeing senior Trey Taylor being named WAC Outstanding Field Performer of the Year. A pair of freshman quickly left their mark on the record books as Samuels put his named second on the list in the discus throw while Jennifer Zapata put her name on top with the fastest time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Barroso also set the new program record in the 400-meter hurdles as she led the 1-2-3-program finish at the WAC Outdoor Championships. Barroso also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round for the second time in her career.
 
The program’s first season in the WAC started with Martin Casse's First-Team All-WAC sixth-place finish at the Cross-Country Championships. Casse went on to win the Indoor Mile, place second in the indoor 800-meter run, win both the Men's Outdoor 1500-meter and 800-meter runs and earned a trip to the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Casse spent a number of weeks as the nation's leader in the Men's Indoor Mile after his 4:05.14 run at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. Also notable junior, Deandra Barroso, won both the long jump and 400-meter hurdles at the outdoor championships, standing atop the podium leading the Broncs to both a 1-2-6 finish and 1-3-4 finish in those events, respectively. Senior Dijan Johnson capped off his career with a conference championship in the Men's 400-meter hurdles, and several school records in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, men's indoor 400-meter dash and men's indoor 200-meter dash.  Casse, Barroso, and Johnson all represented the Broncs in the NCAA West Preliminary Round in May. The Broncs supported their first WAC Champions with 12 other First-Team All-Conference performances throughout the year, nine of which were runners-up at the championships. Throughout the spring, the Broncs rewrote the record books 41 times with UTPA Top-5 All-Time additions and improvements. The top of the list had to be adjusted nine times as UTPA records fell in the men's 400-meter hurdles, men's indoor 200-meter dash, men's indoor 400-meter dash, men's 1500-meter run, men's indoor 800-meter run, men's indoor 1000-meter run, men's indoor mile, and both men's and women's indoor 4x400-meter relays.
 
The 2013 season saw Richardson’s first full year as head coach for the Track & Field and Cross-Country Programs continue the upward momentum for both the men and women. The Cross-Country season culminated with Judith Chumba repeating as conference champion and narrowly missing a NCAA Cross-Country National Championships bid placing ninth with a program record run in the South Central Regional Championships.
 
The indoor season met success with six conference champions (Mac Zarate-60-meter hurdles, Judith Chumba-Mile, Jesus Alvarez-Weight Throw, Jasmine Davison-Weight Throw, Martin Casse-Mile, 800-meter run), 15 First-Team All-Conference performances, and the 55-meter dash program record by freshman Jasmine Brooks. The outdoor season continued on with seven conference champions (Oca Williams-Triple Jump, Dijan Johnson-400-meter hurdles, Deandra Barroso-400-meter hurdles, Martin Casse-1500-meter run, Andy Lopez-800-meter run, Judith Chumba-5k, Jasmine Davison-Hammer) and 14 First-Team All-Conference performances. Two members of the men's team went on to participate in the Preliminary rounds of the NCAA Outdoor National Championships (Lopez, Johnson) after three qualified.  Lopez Advanced on to qualify for the Quarterfinal Round. Freshman Joshua Rosalez concluded the season for the Broncs at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships running the men's 800-meter run.
 
The UTPA record books were adjusted several times as the program records were broken in the women's 55-meter dash, men's outdoor 800-meter run, and men's outdoor distance medley relay.
 
The 2012 spring saw Richardson as Interim Head Coach in January, later taking over the program as head coach on May 1. In Richardson's first season as Interim Head Coach he led the men and women to three-year high score totals in Outdoor Conference Championship competition. Highlighted by five Great West Conference Individual Champions, which include Sylvia Alboniga winning both the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles and setting both UTPA and Great West Conference records respectively in the Outdoor Championships. Richardson also coached Alejandro Trevino to repeating as Indoor Conference Champion in the Triple Jump, Martin Casse winning the men's 1500-meter run and freshman Macario Zarate winning the 110-meter hurdles.
 
The Indoor season was the first with Richardson leading the programs. Conference championships came with three champions: Andy Lopez (800-meter run), Alejandro Trevino (triple jump), and the Men's Distance Medley Relay. The Broncs added 11 First-Team All-Conference performances and 29 Second-Team All-Conference performances.
 
The Broncs sent two student-athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary round as Lopez competed in the 800-meter run and Webb in the 100-meter dash. The Broncs also added five school records throughout the course of the year in the women's outdoor 200-meter dash, women's 100-meter dash, women's 100-meter hurdles, women's 60-meter hurdles and men's outdoor DMR.
 
Assistant Coach...
 
Records and Achievements at UTPA (2009-2012):
1 IAAF Indoor World Championships Qualifier
2 NCAA Outdoor Championships Regional Qualifiers
6 Conference Champions
11 First-Team All-Conference Performances
4 UTPA School Records
25 Top 5 UTPA All-time UTPA Performers
 
The 2011 outdoor season was highlighted by Jameson Strachan breaking his own school record twice in the 400-meter dash and moving to number two all-time in the 200-meter dash. Strachan was also dual conference champion winning both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes. Richardson once again coached senior Melinda Sarmiento to a conference championship in the high jump setting the school record in the process.  Richardson led both Strachan and Sarmiento to qualify for 2011 NCAA Championships West Preliminary Round. Strachan also went on to place eighth in the Bahamas 2011 Junior and Senior BTC National Track and Field Championships in the 400-meter dash. The season also saw freshman Jasmine Webb set the school record in the 100-meter dash.
 
The 2011 indoor season saw relay success with sophomore Guillermo Martinez running the 400 leg of the men’s GWC three-peat championship DMR team, as well as Destiny Schulze running the leg of the women’s runner-up DMR team. Richardson also coached the women’s 4x400 relay to a third place finish at the indoor conference championships.
 
During the 2010 outdoor track season, Richardson coached both Sara Hernandez and Melinda Sarmiento to the medal stand with All-Conference accolades in the 400-meter hurdles and high jump, respectively.
 
In just his first season at UTPA, Richardson guided Sylvia Alboniga to setting a new school record in the 60-meter hurdles. The 2010 Indoor season also saw Jameson Strachan win a conference championship in the 400-meter dash. Additionally, Richardson coached the women’s team to a fantastic 1-3 finish in the high jump; with Melinda Sarmiento as conference champion and Abby Garza finishing on the podium in third. 
 
Prior to coming to UTPA, Richardson spent two seasons at the University of Virginia (UVA) as a volunteer assistant coach for the Cavaliers. Richardson worked mainly with the men’s and women’s sprinters, hurdlers, and relay teams. On the track, Richardson’s efforts over the years included working with a 2008 US Olympic trials triple-jump finalist and a US Olympic trials 400-meter hurdles semi-finalist.  He has worked with eight NCAA East-Regional qualifiers in the sprints, hurdles and relay events, contributed to several school records being broken; including the women’s 60-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles in 2009, and an All-conference indoor 60-meter hurdles and conference champion in the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 2009.  His contributions culminated in the Cavalier men’s highest Atlantic Coast Conference finish in school history and first time (Co-) Conference championship in 2009. Richardson’s return to UVA came after spending four years as a Cavalier student-athlete himself, having earned varsity letters for each of his four years of competition, and spending a stint on the UVA All-time performance list in the 60-meter dash.
 
Richardson's coaching career began in 2003 at James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg, VA working with sprinters, hurdlers, horizontal jumpers and relay teams. His time there resulted in two repeat team district titles, a team regional championship, and a team state runners-up finish, among other accolades.
 
Richardson holds a USATF Level I and Level II certification in sprints, hurdles and relays. 
 
Richardson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2002 and then later received a Master’s of Education degree in Exercise Physiology from UVA in 2009.
 
Richardson currently resides in Edinburg, TX with his wife Audrey and daughter Angelique.