RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Monday the 2026 men's and women's cross country schedules. 
 
The Vaqueros are set to open the season Sept. 12 at the UIW Invitational. The men's team will run an 8K race at 8 a.m. and the women will run a 5K race at 8:40 a.m. at the Windcrest Golf Club in San Antonio. UTRGV will return to the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M at Watts Cross Country Course on Oct. 16. 
 
The Vaqueros will take on the Southland Conference Championships on Oct. 30. This year's conference meet will be hosted by McNeese in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The women will run a 6K race and the men will run an 8K race at the Enos Derbonne Sports Complex. 
 
The road to the NCAA Cross Country Championships begin Nov. 13 with nine regional meets held across the country. UTRGV will compete at the South Central Regional back at the Watts Cross Country Course in Bryan-College Station, Texas. The top two teams from each regional will automatically qualify for the national championship meet, along with 13 at-large teams and 38 selected individuals not on an auto-qualifying or at-large team. The NCAA Championships will run Nov. 21 at LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. 
 
"We were very intentional about how we put this schedule together. Cross country is a long season, and we don't need to race every weekend to get better. We want to give our student-athletes time to train, develop, and recover, then use each competition as an opportunity to see where we are and what we need to improve," head track & field/cross country coach Shareese Hicks said. "The Southland Conference is always competitive, so everything we do has to be about preparing ourselves to be at our best when we get to the championship. We have a good mix of returners and newcomers, and I'm excited to see this group continue to grow, compete with confidence, and put themselves in position to have a strong finish to the season." 

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