RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) track & field program has been building consistently and getting better year by year under head coach
Shareese Hicks.
The 2025 indoor season had plenty of highlights, most notably the first three Southland Conference (SLC) championships in UTRGV history as
Nayla Harris won the women's 60-meter dash title,
Kailey Salazar won the women's 800-meter run, and
Jamari Harts won the men's 400-meter dash title. In 2026, brick by brick, the Vaqueros are training and manifesting even more success.
UTRGV will compete in three non-conference meets before heading to the SLC Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama at the end of February. To prepare for a big showing on the championship stage, Hicks is challenging her team with some high-level meet environments as the Vaqueros will compete at Houston, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. The women's teams at Texas A&M (7
th) and Texas Tech (10
th), along with Tech's men's team (T-8
th) all placed in the top 10 at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships.
"By challenging our student-athletes in premiere competitive environments, we are developing not only high-level performers, but resilient leaders prepared for success at the conference and national levels," Hicks said.
UTRGV is returning most of its top performers from the 2025 indoor season, including champions Harris and Salazar who will lead the women's sprints and distance crews this season.
Efe Latham headlines the women's throwers and jumper
La'Zariah Bethany has stepped up as a competitor and a team leader to watch this indoor campaign.
On the men's side, the sprints duo of
Corin Burns and
Richard Young is back to push each other and their teammates to some fast times on the track. The jumps trio of
Aaron Cooper, Keamonie Archie and
Hebrew Hunter has proved time and time again that the Vaqueros are title contenders in the pit, and they're eager to show out in 2026.
The Vaqueros have some exciting newcomers looking to contribute from the start in 2026.
Jefferson Jean is a promising men's hurdler, and
Nirmit Dahiya will look to build on his strong cross country season with some stellar distance races indoors. Sprinter
Kaliyah Poston brings Div. I experience to the women's roster and is poised to produce early.
Avianna Miller is a freshman jumper to keep an eye on, too.
Hicks and her staff strategically paced the indoor competitions to maximize development, focusing first on competitive readiness and then on postseason execution. After opening the indoor season Jan. 10 at Houston's Leonard Hilton Memorial, the Vaqueros will spend the next three weeks honing-in on the details before taking on meets in back-to-back weekends to open February. They'll have just over a week of intentional practices before taking their momentum to the conference championship.
The indoor season helps to create confidence and set the tone before the Vaqueros attack the outdoor season. Hicks has a saying based on the UTRGV acronym – ultimate trust realizes great victory – and that will be a foundation of this indoor season: have trust in the process, your coaches, your teammates and yourself, and see the results take care of themselves.
