Clarisa Cruz joined the Athletic Communications team in January 2022. She was promoted to Assistant Director of Athletic Communications on November 1, 2023.
Cruz, commonly known as Claire, is the primary media contact for volleyball, women's basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, and men's and women's track & field/cross country. She handles feature writing to highlight the achievements of the athletic department and its student-athletes and live-clipping and live-tweeting for UTRGV's broadcasted sports and major departmental events. She is a member of the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Women committee.
In Feb. 2025, Cruz was announced as one of six recipients (one of two at the Div. I level) of the NCAA Inclusion CSC Convention Grant selected by the CSC and NCAA Leadership Development and Media Coordination and Statistics staffs. She was chosen as the #RISEup Award winner in the Fall of 2024, which is voted on by UTRGV Athletics staffers to recognize individuals in the department who go above and beyond and make a meaningful impact on the student-athletes, coaches and staff.
Cruz has received seven District 6 (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana) awards in CSC's Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest and was a 2024-25 national runner-up in the Social Justice/Diversity category for her story on track & field alum Aviana Goode covering the 2024 US Olympic Trials with Black Women Photographers. She has written three district-winning stories in the Social Justice/Diversity & Inclusion, Historical Feature, and General Feature/Blog categories. She has claimed District 6 Runner-Up awards in the Coach/Administrator Profile, Social Justice/Diversity & Inclusion (2), and Season Recap/Preview categories.
Cruz got her start in sports journalism with The Daily Texan while attending the University of Texas. As a student reporter, she served as the beat writer for the Longhorns’ softball, volleyball and men’s basketball teams and earned a Senior Staff position.
The Rio Hondo High School graduate returned to the RGV to work as a sports reporter for the Valley Morning Star and The Brownsville Herald from 2017-2021. Additionally, she spent four seasons working with Texas High School Baseball, covering Class 4A and then Class 6A baseball statewide. Cruz resides in Lyford with her dog, Teddy.
