RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Brick by brick, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's (UTRGV) track & field/cross country programs have been building a foundation over the last few years under head coach Shareese Hicks. 
 
Between cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field, the Vaqueros in this program train and compete year-round in a variety of events. The first two chapters of their 2025-26 competition year ended with historic moments and incredible success. Now, the Vaqueros are turning their focus to the third chapter, one that is arguably their strongest – the 2026 outdoor track & field season. 
 
The foundation has been set. There's no denying that. The goal now is to keep raising the standards and stacking up success based on student-athlete development and elite performances in highly competitive environments. 
 
Last outdoor season, the women's team finished third at the Southland Conference (SLC) Championships and the men's team was eighth. The women's team claimed three individual championships, including Nayla Harris's 100-meter dash title that secured her short sprints sweep in her junior campaign. Harris is now coming off an All-American indoor season and will headline the women's team which won the indoor team title – the first conference championship in program history – and is certainly a contender to capture another trophy outdoors. 
 
UTRGV's women's team is deep in all disciplines. Junior N Vanee Anchike was the SLC Women's Newcomer of the Year in cross country and indoor track & field, leading an extremely productive group of mid-distance runners. Harris is joined by a slew of speedsters who combined to score big points in the indoor sprints. Senior Efe Latham and junior La'Zariah Bethany hold things down in field events. Transfer additions like Kaliyah Poston and Aniya Heckstall bolster the depth of the Vaqueros squad determined to make the jump from third to first in Year 2 in the SLC. 
 
"Now that we're in Year 2, we've done a lot more recruiting and we've been able to fill some holes that we were missing going into the conference championships in different events, so I'm cautiously optimistic about what we can do this season," Hicks said. "We haven't had the numbers before, but we have the numbers now. We've always had the talent. But we're able to come in with more of an army this year and I think that'll help them being a lot more confident." 
 
Hicks called track & field an "over-use type of sport" that requires student-athletes to be very serious about their craft, being consistent with rehab and post-workout recovery as well as being mentally tough. This year's squad is veteran heavy and those third and fourth-year Vaqueros who have been with Hicks from the beginning have done a tremendous job setting up a culture designed for success. 
 
With great leadership guiding them, a few youngsters are poised to shine this outdoor season. Freshman Antwoine Warren is coming off a conference championship in the indoor men's high jump and will look to continue his momentum outdoors. Freshman hurdler Dior Williams had a solid indoor season and brings youthful promise to the hurdles squad. Seniors Corin Burns and Abraham Morales set the tone for the men's sprinters and mid-distance runners, respectively. 
 
The Vaqueros will compete in five meets in preparation for the SLC Outdoor Championships, scheduled for May 14-16 in Nacogdoches, Texas. Hicks put together a schedule that will turn up the intensity in the final month leading up to championship season as the Vaqueros will compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational in California before heading to meets at Power 4 schools including Baylor and Houston.
 
UTRGV is set up to have another strong season to cap a historic year. The talent, the focus and the hunger is there. It'll be exciting to see how the Vaqueros develop and compete throughout the next two and a half months as they fight to see who will be the next person to break through and reach the national stage. 

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