RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Historic is really the only way to describe the 2026 track & field seasons put together by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros. 
 
Two firsts were achieved during the indoor season: the women's team won the Southland Conference (SLC) Indoor Track & Field Championship, and senior sprinter Nayla Harris became the first First Team All-American in the women's 60-meter dash in program and SLC history. Significant milestones continued to stack up throughout the outdoor season as UTRGV sent a program-record 11 Vaqueros to the NCAA West First Round. 
 
Those three accomplishments were among the most noteworthy to head coach Shareese Hicks, but there were several others she said spoke to the trajectory and longevity of UTRGV track & field. The Vaqueros broke 23 combined program records in 2026. They also hold national records for Sierra Leone and Ghana, courtesy of hurdler Daniel Siaffa and distance runner N Vanee Anchike. Hicks said seeing student-athletes score at conference meets and even earn All-Conference honors for the first time after working toward those goals for years also deserves notice. 
 
Even off the competition surface, this group of Vaqueros excelled. Both the men's and women's programs ranked second in the nation among other Div. I track & field/cross country teams for community service as the women tallied 1,178 hours and the men totaling 916 volunteer hours. UTRGV student-athletes accumulated academic awards as the team worked to improve GPAs. 
 
Yes, 2026 was a year to remember and one that will likely stand out for a while. But it didn't happen overnight, or by accident, or surprise those close to the program. The Vaqueros have been building to this point since the day Hicks stepped on campus. 
 
"What I want people to understand most is that this season wasn't an arrival point for us. This season showed that our program has taken another major step forward and that what we are building at UTRGV is sustainable," Hicks said. 
 
"I'm incredibly proud of what our student-athletes and staff accomplished, especially because many of these milestones would have seemed very far away when we first started building this program," she added. "We wanted to create an environment where student-athletes believed they could compete at a high level. This season showed the conference and the country that UTRGV can develop athletes, compete for championships, and produce athletes who will compete on the national stage. We've raised the standard every year, and now the expectation within our program is different. That shift in belief has probably been one of the biggest signs of how far this program has come." 
 
Harris put UTRGV on the national stage with one of the most accomplished track seasons the program – or the Southland Conference – has ever seen. She became the first sprinter in program history and just the second woman from UTRGV to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. She set personal, program and conference records with her best time of 7.16 and ran for a national championship as she reached the final of the women's 60-meter dash, tabbing a fifth-place finish. 
 
UTRGV knew Harris was brewing something special as the indoor season rolled on. She went unbeaten in the 60 up until the national championship meet, cruising to the top spot in prelims and finals rounds at five consecutive meets. Harris completely rewrote the UTRGV indoor record books, turning every trip out of the blocks into a top-10 time in program history ranging from 7.16 to 7.26. 
 
"Having Nayla finish fifth in the 60 and earn First Team All-America honors was a huge moment. Watching one of our athletes stand on that stage and compete among the best in the country represented so much of what we have been working toward as a program," Hicks reminisced. 
 
Harris and her fellow Vaqueros dominated at the SLC Indoor Championships to earn the right to hoist the trophy. Hicks was named the SLC Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year and Anchike, a junior, claimed the SLC Newcomer of the Year title after earning a trio of silver medals in the 800-meter run, the mile, and with the distance medley relay. Harris claimed gold in the 60 and bronze medals in the 200-meter dash and long jump. The Vaqueros scored 128 points to tab the victory, beating runner-up Stephen F. Austin by 22 points while collecting 10 medals.
 
"Winning the SLC Indoor Championship will always be special. Championships are incredibly difficult to win, and seeing our women come together and compete for each other throughout that meet was one of my favorite moments of the season," Hicks said. 
 
UTRGV took the momentum from an outstanding indoor season and attacked the outdoor season with pride and a hunger to keep winning. The Vaqueros had 11 student-athletes qualify for the NCAA West First Round, which was the largest group of qualifiers in program history: Anchike (women's 800 and 1,500), Jizzale Davis (women's 100, 200, and 4x100-meter relay), Dior Williams (women's 100-meter hurdles, 4x100), Kaliyah Poston (women's 200 and 4x100), Ashley Lingueno (women's 4x100), Efe Latham (women's shot put), Treasure Vallerie (women's 400-meter dash), Siaffa (men's 110- and 400-meter hurdles), Jefferson Jean (men's 110 hurdles), Antwoine Warren (men's high jump), and Matic Vidmar (men's javelin). 
 
Between the indoor and outdoor conference meets, UTRGV totaled five event championships with Harris' gold, La'Zariah Bethany claiming the outdoor women's triple jump title, Talyna Ligier taking the outdoor women's 400-meter hurdles win, the women's 4x100-meter relay capturing the outdoor title, and Warren winning the indoor men's high jump. 
 
UTRGV saw several event groups rise toward the top in the USTFCCCA NCAA Div. I Track & Field National TFRI. The TFRI (track & field rating index) is a mathematical system used to rank teams based on current-season performances. At the conclusion of the indoor seasons, the women's team had four event squads ranked in the top 60, led by the 200-meter dash squad which ranked 29^th in the nation; the men's team had three squads in the top 50, with the 60-meter hurdles crew leading the way at 37^th. Outdoors, the men's 110 hurdles group was 21^st in the nation at the end of the season and the women's 800 squad was 29^th.
 
As a whole, the Vaqueros women's team ended the indoor season ranked 37^th in the nation and was the top-ranked SLC program and seventh-highest in the South Central region, coming in ahead of Power 4 programs including TCU, Penn State, Duke, Louisville, Iowa, West Virgina, Wisconsin, Utah, UCF, Michigan, Kansas and several other programs in the top 58. Senior sprinter Aniya Heckstall and the reliable mid-distance runners in junior Kailey Salazar, senior Lilliana Guerrero and sophomore Santa Maria alum Mia Picazo helped push the Vaqueros inside the top 40.  
 
Hicks said the staff was intentional about development and meeting the needs of each individual all season, and the results showed that focus. She praised the leaders on the squad for their buy-in and was proud to see the entire program understand the importance of standards and consistency. The wins, rankings and records came from the work that has been put in for years, and now those accomplishments have fostered the belief Hicks knows will keep the program rising. 
 
"The most exciting part for me is that our athletes now believe that this is who we are. We're proud of the history we made this season, but we also know there is a lot more ahead," Hicks said. 

Support UTRGV Track & Field | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube