COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's and men's cross-country teams will compete Friday in the NCAA South Central Regional, the first round of the NCAA Championships.
The women's team will run a 6K at 9 a.m., and the men will run a 10K at 10 a.m. at the Watts Cross Country Course, which Texas A&M is hosting. The course, which opened in 2014, sits within the Hildebrand Equine Complex and was also the site of the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Oct. 16.
UTRGV will face 24 other teams in the women's race and 23 in the men's, including seven Southland Conference (SLC) opponents in each. The Vaqueros women placed third at the SLC Championships, and the men finished seventh.
Senior N Vanee Anchike leads the women's team. She earned second-team All-SLC honors with a 10th-place finish in 20:59.45, the third-fastest 6K in program history. Freshman Harlingen South alum Jessica De Leon (19th, 21:18.70) and senior Kailey Salazar (20th, 21:28.57) followed, with junior Santa Maria alum Mia Picazo (31st, 22:06.51) and freshman Economedes alum Maddison Surita (38th, 22:16.50) rounding out the scoring. Anchike also set a program record in the 6K at the Arturo Barrios Invitational.
The men's team will be paced by senior McAllen Rowe alum Kevin Cardenas, who placed 45th at the SLC meet in 25:50.32 over 8K, and sophomore McAllen Memorial alum Roehl Rodriguez, who was 47th in 25:57.30. Freshmen Brock Morales and Vanguard Rembrandt alum Gael Gonzalez, along with freshman PSJA Memorial alum Diego Piña, complete the lineup. The men will move up from 8K to 10K. Cardenas (33:37.7) and Rodriguez (33:50.5) are the only Vaqueros with college 10K experience, though neither has run the distance this season.
The top two teams at each regional earn automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 21, at Indiana State University. Fourteen at-large teams will fill out the 32-team field, and the first four individuals not on a qualifying team also advance.
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