HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros outdoor track & field teams combined to earn 10 medals Saturday to close out the Southland Conference (SLC) Outdoor Championships at Rice's Wendel D. Ley Track & Holloway Field, including a gold medal in the women's 100-meter dash won by junior Nayla Harris.
 
Harris became UTRGV's third individual champion of the meet with her win in 11.44, matching the No. 3 time in program history. She completed the sweep to secure her title as the fastest woman in the conference as she also won the 60-meter dash title indoors. The junior speedster helped the Vaqueros women finish third in the team standings with 115 points, finishing right behind runner-up Lamar with 117.5 points. Northwestern State won the women's team title with 180.5 points. 
 
Junior Corin Burns racked up three medals as he competed in four events to lead the men's team. Burns took silver in the 100-meter dash in 10.32, the third-fastest time in program history. He followed with a pair of bronze medals in the 200-meter dash and in the 4x400-meter relay, running the third leg along with junior Derrius Henry, sophomore Brownsville Hanna alum Alejandro Arellano and junior Jamari Harts. Burns' 200 time of 20.79 tied the program record and was a personal best. The 4x400 relay ran 3:08.47, the No. 2 time in program history and the first sub-3:10 race since 2023 for the Vaqueros. 
 
UTRGV's men finished eighth with 56 points. Stephen F. Austin won the men's team title with 146 points, followed by Lamar (113) and Incarnate Word (99). 
 
Both the women's and men's teams finished ahead of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which saw its women finish fourth and its men take ninth. UTRGV's outdoor track & field wins in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, make the final score for the 2024-25 competition 34-26 in favor of the Islanders. 
 
Freshman Jizzale Davis, junior Achol Maywin and junior Lilliana Guerrero all earned runner-up finishes Saturday. Davis was second in the women's 200-meter dash, running 23.70 to tab the seventh-best time in program history. She was also fourth in the 100-meter dash. 
 
Maywin set a program and personal record in the women's high jump as she cleared 1.77 meters to take silver. 
 
Guerrero and sophomore Kailey Salazar took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's 800-meter run. Guerrero's time of 2:10.88 is the eighth-best race in program history. 
 
The Vaqueros claimed five bronze medals. Junior Aaron Cooper marked 15.35 meters in the men's triple jump to finish third, tying the fourth-best jump in program history. The women's 4x400-meter relay team of junior Brownsville Hanna alum Aliyah Castillo, senior Trinity Kirk, Salazar and senior Zoë Adams set a program record in 3:42.74 as they finished third in the final event of the night to move the women up a spot in the team standings. 
 
All four UTRGV triple jumpers, including Cooper, reached the finals Saturday. In the women's event, junior Tolu Odetola tabbed a massive personal best, jumping 12.39 meters to finish fourth and tie the fourth-best jump in program history. Sophomore La'Zariah Bethany followed in eighth. Sophomore Hebrew Hunter was seventh in the men's triple jump.
 
Adams and Harris took fifth and seventh, respectively, in the women's 200 dash. Adams was also fourth in the women's 400-meter dash. Castillo, Davis, Adams and Harris finished fourth in the women's 4x100-meter relay in 45.45, the fifth-best time in program history. 
 
The men's 4x100-meter relay comprised of Arellano, Harts, freshman Richard Young and Burns ran 40.15 – the No. 2 time in program history – and finished fifth. Harts, Arellano and Henry also finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the men's 400-meter dash. 
 
Senior Samantha Gonzalez capped her UTRGV career with an eighth-place finish in the women's 5,000-meter run. Junior PSJA High alum Faith Cruz took 15. Senior Daniel Siaffa was fifth in the men's 400-meter hurdles and freshman Krystan Bright took sixth in the women's race. 
 
Junior Hannah Hilding wrapped up her four-event weekend with a seventh-place finish in women's discus with a mark of 47.01 meters. Hilding made three finals and scored 15 points for the Vaqueros. 
 
UTRGV hit three personal bests on the final day of the conference meet, bringing the total for the weekend to 15. Up next for qualifying student-athletes will be the NCAA West First Round which is scheduled for May 28-31 in Bryan-College Station, Texas. 
 
Women's Team Standings 
1. Northwestern State, 180.5 points 
2. Lamar, 117.5 
3. UTRGV, 115 
4. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 92
5. Stephen F. Austin, 82.5
6. East Texas A&M, 63
7. Incarnate Word, 45
8. Southeastern, 39
9. McNeese, 26
10. Houston Christian, 23.5
11. New Orleans, 23
12. Nicholls, 4
 
Men's Team Standings 
1. Stephen F. Austin, 146 points 
2. Lamar, 113
3. Incarnate Word, 99
4. East Texas A&M, 86
5. Southeastern, 78
6. Northwestern State, 70
7. McNeese, 64
8. UTRGV, 56
9. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 48
10. Houston Christian, 40
11. New Orleans, 19
 
UTRGV SATURDAY RESULTS
Field Events 
Women's discus
7. Hannah Hilding, 47.01m 
 
Women's triple jump 
4. Tolu Odetola, 12.39m 
· T-4^th in program history 
8. La'Zariah Bethany, 11.96m 
 
Men's triple jump
3. Aaron Cooper, 15.35m 
· T-4^th in program history 
7. Hebrew Hunter, 14.69m 
 
Women's high jump
2. Achol Maywin, 1.77m
· Program Record 
 
Track Events (all finals) 
Women's 4x100-meter relay
4. Aliyah Castillo, Jizzale Davis, Zoë Adams, Nayla Harris, 45.45 
· 5^th in program history 
 
Men's 4x100-meter relay 
5. Alejandro Arellano, Jamari Harts, Richard Young, Corin Burns, 40.15 
· 2^nd in program history 
 
Women's 400-meter dash
4. Zoë Adams, 54.53 
 
Men's 400-meter dash
4. Jamari Harts, 47.15
5. Alejandro Arellano, 47.25
6. Derrius Henry, 47.30 
 
Women's 100-meter dash 
1. Nayla Harris, 11.44
· T-3^rd in program history 
4. Jizzale Davis, 11.86 
 
Men's 100-meter dash 
2. Corin Burns, 10.32 
· 3^rd in program history 
 
Women's 800-meter run
2. Lilliana Guerrero, 2:10.88 
· 8^th in program history 
3. Kailey Salazar, 2:11.41 
 
Women's 400-meter hurdles
6. Krystan Bright, 1:15.12 
 
Men's 400-meter hurdles
5. Daniel Siaffa, 51.78 
 
Women's 200-meter dash 
2. Jizzale Davis, 23.70 
· 7^th in program history 
5. Zoë Adams, 24.50 
7. Nayla Harris, 25.61 
 
Men's 200-meter dash
3. Corin Burns, 20.79 
· T-Program Record 
 
Women's 5,000-meter run 
8. Samantha Gonzalez, 17:26.36 
· 6^th in program history 
15. Faith Cruz, 17:58.99 
 
Women's 4x400-meter relay 
3. Aliyah Castillo, Trinity Kirk, Kailey Salazar, Zoë Adams, 3:42.74  
· Program Record 
 
Men's 4x400-meter relay 
3. Derrius Henry, Alejandro Arellano, Corin Burns, Jamari Harts, 3:08.47 
· 2^nd in program history 

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