RIO GRANDE VALLEY – UTRGV Athletics completed its first year in the Southland Conference with seven conference championships, including one for the baseball team and three individual titles each in indoor and outdoor track & field. UTRGV also earned 86 conference awards across all sports.
Baseball's championship led to UTRGV hosting a Southland Conference Tournament for the first time, the Edinburg bracket during the first week of the baseball tournament.
Baseball was one of a few teams to immediately establish itself as a top contender in the Southland. Women's track & field finished third at both the indoor and outdoor championships, finishing just 2.5 points out of second at the outdoor event. The men's golf team placed third at the Southland Conference Championships and second among full-time Southland members. Men's tennis finished one court shy of winning the Southland, coming in second with just one conference loss by a 4-3 margin on the road. Women's basketball finished within one win of finishing in the top four in the conference as well.
The individual track & field champions included Nayla Harris (60-meter dash), Jamari Harts (400-meter dash), and Kailey Salazar (800-meter run) during the indoor season and Hannah Hilding (hammer throw), Samatha Gonzalez (3,000-meter steeplechase), and Harris (100-meter dash) during the outdoor season.
Hilding and Harris were among a program record eight Vaqueros who qualified for the NCAA Outdoor West First Round.
Among the 86 awards were six superlatives, twice as many as the previous year, including three in volleyball, with Isabella Costantini earning Setter and Newcomer of the Year and Celianiz Cabranes earning Liberto of the Year, two in baseball, with Armani Raygoza earning Player of the Year and Víctor Loa earning Newcomer of the Year, and one in men's tennis, with Sam Whitehead earning Player of the Year.
Beyond the competitive success, UTRGV saw strong academic success, with a department grade point average of 3.35, no doubt bolstered by having less missed class time due to the regionality of the Southland Conference footprint. UTRGV had the ability to take a bus to most opponents, eliminating the need for early morning wake-up calls to catch early flights followed by connections. The improved travel schedule allowed Vaqueros to be less fatigued, which showed up in both the academic and competitive results.
UTRGV is looking forward to starting year two in the Southland Conference.
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