RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The Southland Conference (SLC) announced the 2026 Men's Track & Field All-Academic Awards on Friday and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) had five Vaqueros make the All-Academic Team – graduate student Abraham Morales, senior Daniel Siaffa, and juniors Jefferson Jean, Alejandro Arellano and Nirmit Dahiya. 
 
To be eligible for the All-Academic Team, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better with at least one semester completed at the nominating institution and must have competed in at least 50% of the team's competitions. Student-athletes who earned All-Conference First Team were automatically placed on the academic team if they met the academic and participation requirements.  
 
Morales will be receiving a Master of Business Administration from UTRGV after a solid four years on and off the competition surface. He was a team captain and consistent top finisher among the men's distance runners in track & field and cross country. This season, Morales made the All-Conference Second Team with his runner-up finish in the mile at SLC Indoor Championships and scored in three total conference events, including with the distance medley relay at the indoor meet and in the 1,500-meter run outdoors. He set personal bests in the indoor mile and outdoor 800-meter run and 1,500. 
 
Siaffa qualified for the NCAA West First Round in both the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles to wrap up three impressive seasons at UTRGV. He is a two-time NCAA West qualifier and the program record holder with his time of 13.84 in the 110 hurdles. Siaffa scored in all three of his events at the SLC Outdoor Championships, finishing fourth in the 110 hurdles and fifth in both the 400 hurdles and 4x400-meter relay. He earned three first-place finishes throughout the outdoor season. Siaffa was seventh in the 60-meter hurdles at the indoor championships. He graduated in May with a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies. 
 
Jean qualified for the NCAA West First Round in the 110-meter hurdles. He placed fifth in the 110 hurdles at SLC Outdoor Championships and totaled four top-3 finishes throughout his debut seasons at UTRGV. Jean is studying Integrated Health Sciences. 
 
Arellano earned All-Conference Third Team honors at SLC Indoor Championships with a bronze finish with the 4x400-meter relay. He was also eighth in the 400-meter run at indoor championships and placed fifth with the 4x400 at outdoor championships. He is pursuing a degree in multidisciplinary studies. 
 
Dahiya earned All-Conference Third Team honors in the 1,500-meter run and was fifth in the 5,000-meter run at SLC Outdoor Championships. He totaled three top-3 finishes throughout his first track & field seasons with UTRGV. Dahiya is studying kinesiology. 

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