RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The 2025 indoor season was a memorable one for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros. They made a splash in their inaugural Southland Conference (SLC) season, broke numerous program records, and continued to raise the standard in the program. 
 
Head coach Shareese Hicks set the season up with the intention to let the student-athletes rest and reset in between meets. They were strategic with practices and competitions and training, and the approach led to fantastic results. 
 
UTRGV collected seven individual medals and two relay medals at the SLC Indoor Championships. The women's and men's teams finished third and sixth, respectively, both earning their best conference finish since 2021. They combined to set 12 program records – seven by the women's team and five by the men's. 
 
At the start of the season, Hicks said "any meet can be anybody's day for something really, really incredible." And every meet, seemingly, someone or some new event group stepped up to be the headliner. 
 
One of the stars of the season was junior Nayla Harris, who wasted no time declaring that she would have a breakout season. She broke the women's 60-meter dash program record in UTRGV's first meet, the LSU Purple Tiger, to take third in the event. At the next meet, Texas Tech's Stan Scott Invite, Harris won the 60 dash, defeating opponents from Ohio State, UCF and Texas Tech. She also broke her own program record and captured the program's first SLC Women's Track Athlete of the Week award. 
 
Harris spent the entirety of the indoor season ranked No. 1 in the Southland in the women's 60. She then etched her name in UTRGV history (again) by claiming the first SLC Championship for the Vaqueros with a win at the conference meet. Junior Jamari Harts and sophomore Kailey Salazar quickly followed suit and were crowned SLC Champions in the men's 400-meter dash and women's 800-meter run, respectively. Both set program records in their respective events. 
 
Harts had a massive day at the SLC Indoor Championships, adding a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 60- and 200-meter dashes to his point total. He helped the Vaqueros men finish sixth in the team standings – their best conference finish since 2021. 
 
Salazar and junior Lilliana Guerrero headlined a women's 800 crew that excelled indoors. Salazar took gold at the conference meet and Guerrero followed with bronze. The Vaqueros scored 18 points in the event as senior Brownsville Porter alum Estrella Medellin finished seventh. 
 
Salazar and Guerrero combined to run six of the top 10 times in indoor program history in the 800, and Medellin added a seventh top 10 time. After a couple of tough seasons for distance runners, the Vaqueros women saw three mid to long distance program records fall as freshman Santa Maria alum Mia Picazo took the top spot in the 1,000-meter run and senior Samantha Gonzalez did so in the mile. 
 
Another bright spot in the season was the performances from UTRGV's freshmen, including Jizzale Davis, Krystan Bright and Richard Young. Davis picked up a bronze medal at the conference championships in the 200-meter dash, and rose to No. 2 in program history with her personal best time. She also helped the women's 4x400-meter relay team earn bronze, along with junior Brownsville Hanna alum Aliyah Castillo and seniors Trinity Kirk and Zoe Adams. Davis was also eighth in the 60 dash as she had an incredible first conference meet. 
 
Bright picked up a bronze medal in the women's 60-meter hurdles after a solid season. In the men's event, junior Jaylen Critton followed suit. And Young also captured bronze at his first conference meet as part of the men's 4x400-meter relay with sophomore Brownsville Hanna alum Alejandro Arellano and juniors Cerrone Thompson and Derrius Henry. 
 
The men's 400-meter group was another standout crew, rising as high as 40^th in the nation with Harts leading the way. Junior transfer Corin Burns was headlining the short sprints before an injury. At their peak, the men's 60 and 200 event groups were ranked 21^st and 41^st, respectively, in the nation. Burns, Harts and Arellano were each contributing to two event groups sitting high. 

Junior Hannah Hilding and senior Efe Latham proved to be a strong women's throws duo, each contributing to the team score at the conference meet. Junior Aaron Cooper was a top performer in field events, along with a pair of newcomers who impressed and made an immediate impact in sophomore La'Zariah Bethany and junior Achol Maywin. 
 
Across all events and experience levels, a multitude of Vaqueros put together solid performances and showed incredible progress. Hicks and her staff are always focused on athlete development, and that was off the charts during the indoor season. 
 
After a memorable, record-breaking and momentum-building indoor season, the Vaqueros were fired up to carry the progress over and take it a step forward during the outdoor season. 
 
"Our major goal is to continue to progress in every way," Hicks said. "The goal is to be great students and role models and vie for the No. 1 spot in the Southland Conference." 

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