RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley swimming & diving team enters the 2026-27 season with a blend of returning experience and promising newcomers, using early-season competition to establish their identity and make waves.
 
Head coach Betsy Graham is excited for the season and the beginning of the campaign has been about more than simply posting times. The Vaqueros have used head-to-head competition to evaluate potential lineups, challenge one another and determine where each athlete can make the biggest impact.
 
The Orange & Gray Intrasquad Meet and Pentathlon gave the swimmers and divers an opportunity to compete against their teammates while allowing Graham and the coaching staff to get an early look at the lineup.
 
"We saw some faster times yesterday, for sure, with the one-on-ones, and going for the Vaquero hat," Graham said. "It gives them a good idea of what a lineup will look like, let them do it themselves, so they put their own opponents against each other."
 
The early competition has also helped the Vaqueros identify areas that need continued work as they move into the regular season.
 
"They did do some more head-to-heads today, so it gives me a good idea of where we're starting from and what we need to continue building upon," Graham said. "It is good to see the girls compete."
 
UTRGV will have plenty of opportunities to continue that development throughout the season.
 
Following the opening intrasquad competition, the Vaqueros will travel to the Rice Fall Splash on Oct. 9-10 before competing against New Mexico and New Mexico State on Oct. 16-17.
 
UTRGV will then return home to face Bowling Green on Nov. 6-7 before splitting its attention between the swimmers and divers later in November. The swimmers will compete at the UIW Invite, while the divers will travel to the NAU Diving Invite, Nov. 19-22.
 
The Vaqueros will return from the winter break to compete against West Florida on Dec. 16 and Pepperdine on Jan. 9 before facing North Texas on Jan. 22-23.
 
All of the early-season competition will lead into the MPSF Swimming and Diving Championships, scheduled for Feb. 17-21.
 
The Vaquero divers are ready for the season, while building confidence and continuing to develop their dives as the team works through its training progression.
 
During practice, the divers competed in a combination 1-meter and 3-meter event, giving the coaching staff an opportunity to evaluate their lists.
 
"The girls have done a very good job, and we saw some really good things during training," Diving Coach Jennifer Mangum said. "Manou was very steady, even competed a brand-new dive, and did it fairly well."
 
Junior Manou Meulebeek, a returning standout for the Vaqueros, has continued to provide experience on the diving side while also embracing the growth of the team around her.
 
The Vaqueros have also welcomed freshmen Kiyana Perez and Madelaine Bailey to the diving group.
 
"The two freshman divers that competed, Kiana and Maddie, both had some really good things about their list," Mangum said. "Kiyana was great at showing off some amazing entries."
 
The development of those freshmen is part of a larger theme for UTRGV this season.
Junior Annaleagh Stahl said the new swimmers and divers have already made an impression on the team, both through their work in the pool and their ability to fit into the team's culture.
 
"We had a lot of really good freshmen come in," Stahl said. "They definitely put in the work, you could see they fit the team dynamic really well."
 
That combination of returning experience and new talent could be important as the Vaqueros work through a schedule designed to provide opportunities for improvement before the championship portion of the season.
 
The early meets have already provided some individual highlights. Sophomore Sasapin Sarawas opened the season by winning UTRGV's annual pentathlon.
 
"I'm really proud of Sasha," Stahl said. "She had a really good weekend. She had some really great races and I'm really happy for her."
 
As the Vaqueros continue through the fall, Stahl believes the team's progress will come from continuing to push one another.

"I'm excited to see how the future holds for the rest of the team," Stahl said. "I'm excited to see how the freshmen will develop and how the team dynamic will hold in the future."
 
That development will be especially important as UTRGV approaches the MPSF Championships in February and the postseason that follows.
 
After the conference championships, the Vaqueros will have opportunities to compete at the NCAA Zone "D" Diving Championships and the CSCAA National Invitational, while NCAA Championship opportunities await later in March.

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