UTRGV Athletics hired Shareese Hicks, who spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Memphis, as the new head coach of the  track & field and cross country programs on July 20, 2021.
 
2025-26
The women’s cross country team placed third at the SLC Championships, the program’s best conference finish in 15 years, and N Vanee Anchike was named SLC Women’s Newcomer of the Year. The men took fifth, their best championship finish in five seasons. The 2026 track & field seasons were historic. The women won the first SLC Indoor Championship in program history, and Hicks was named SLC Women’s Track & Field Coach of the Year. Nayla Harris became the first First Team All-American in the women’s 60 in program and SLC history after a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and Anchike was named SLC Newcomer of the Year indoors. Daniel Siaffa and Anchike also set national records for Sierra Leone and Ghana. Outdoors, UTRGV sent a program-record 11 athletes to the NCAA West First Round and the Vaqueros broke 23 combined program records during the 2026 seasons. Off the track, both programs ranked second in the nation for community service (1,178 hours for the women, 916 for the men).

2024-25
In the first year of cross country in the Southland Conference, the women won the OLLU Classic, their first meet win in at least 20 years, with Samantha Gonzalez earning her first individual victory and later Second Team All-Conference honors, and both teams recorded their best conference finishes in four seasons. In 2025, the Vaqueros’ first SLC indoor season, the women took third and the men sixth, the program’s best finishes since 2021, and UTRGV set 12 program records. Nayla Harris won the 60 for the first SLC championship in program history, while Jamari Harts (400) and Kailey Salazar (800) also won titles with program records. Outdoors, the women placed third at the SLC Championships and UTRGV won 14 medals and set nine program records. Harris ran 11.22 in the 100, the fastest women’s time in SLC history, Corin Burns set records in the 100, 200 and 4x100, and Gonzalez won the steeplechase and set two program records. UTRGV sent a program-record eight athletes to the NCAA West First Round.

2023-24

Captains Samantha Gonzalez and Abraham Morales led the 2023 cross country team to six personal records at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, one of the largest meets in the country, which Hicks named a season highlight. At the 2024 WAC Indoor Championships the women rose from ninth to fourth and the men from 10th to eighth. Each team set five program records, including Symoria Adkins’ 8.22 in the 60 hurdles, Jamari Harts’ 6.74 in the 60 and Jedidiah Udunna’s 7.59 in the long jump. The 2024 outdoor season was the program’s strongest to that point. UTRGV won five WAC titles and 12 medals, with Adkins winning four of those titles and being named Outstanding Track Performer, and Hannah Hilding being named Outstanding Field Performer. Udunna won the long jump with a program-record 7.92, Aaron Cooper set the triple jump record, and Adkins came within .02 seconds of an NCAA Championships berth. Seven program records fell, and six athletes qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary.

2022-23
The cross country program ended the season strongly at the NCAA South Central Regional, where the men were 15th of 27 teams and six of the women’s seven runners set personal bests. Samantha Gonzalez was the women’s top finisher at all five meets. At the 2023 WAC Indoor Championships, UTRGV set 39 personal bests and three program records, including Symoria Adkins’ 60 hurdles mark, Jada Hoffman’s in the 60 and Aisha Gay’s in the 200. Outdoors, both teams placed above their preseason projections, with the women seventh and the men eighth after both were picked 10th. Marlene Gutierrez won the WAC hammer title with a program-record 62.03, Jedidiah Udunna set the long jump record (7.80) and won silver, and Sam Johnson II set the 400 record (46.25) and anchored a program-record 4x400. The Vaqueros won eight medals, set eight program records and sent five athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary after none had qualified in 2022.

2021-22
Hicks' first cross country season produced 22 personal records across six meets. The men finished third in each of their first three meets and 15th at the NCAA South Central Regional despite not being ranked in the regional top 15. The 2022 track & field seasons laid the foundation for what followed, with 30 new entries on the indoor top-performance lists, 14 personal records at the WAC Indoor Championships and three indoor program records. Five athletes earned All-WAC honors outdoors and 15 made the outdoor record book. The women ranked No. 1 and the men No. 2 among NCAA Division I programs for community service (490 combined hours), and both teams were named USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams.

During her time at Memphis, Hicks worked directly with those competing in sprints and hurdles.
 
This past outdoor season, Hicks guided three student-athletes to the finals at the American Athletic Conference Championships, including Adam Yakobi, who advanced to the NCAA East Preliminary Round in the 400-meter hurdles. Yakobi qualified with 52.04 at the LSU Invitational on May 1, the 42^nd-best mark in the region, before PRing with a 51.91 to finish 25^th in the region.
 
Hicks started her tenure at Memphis strong, coaching six conference finalists during the 2020 indoor season, including Paris Perkins, who earned silver in the 400-meter dash.

Prior to arriving at Memphis, Hicks served as the Neosho County Community College track & field head coach for five seasons, coaching 20 athletes that were NJCAA national qualifiers, including three that earned All-American honors. One of her All-Americans was Sergio Wilson, who was the 2017 NJCAA Champion in the men’s javelin one year after finishing runner-up.
 
As teams, the women’s track & field squad improved by two spots in the regional rankings while the men’s squad move up one spot under Hicks’ leadership.
 
Hicks’ teams had success in the classroom and in the community as well, increasing their grade point averages by about half a point. The teams also combined for about 500 hours of community service to the Neosho County campus and surrounding area.
 
Prior to jumping into the full-time collegiate coaching ranks, Hicks was a professional track & field athlete from 2008-15. She competed primarily in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes in meets across the United States and around the world.
 
A 2012 USA Olympic Trials finalist in the 400-meter dash, Hicks impressed in her first year as a professional in 2008, winning gold at the USA Indoor Nationals in the 400-meter dash and bronze at the World Indoor Championships in the same event. She also ran a leg on the 4x400-meter relay team that took bronze at the 2008 World Indoor Championships.
 
Hicks won gold as a member of the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships. She also earned silver in the 200-meter dash. Hicks went on to take silver in the 4x100-meter relay at the Pan American Games.
 
After her collegiate career ended in 2007, Hicks immediately got into coaching to her alma mater, Charlotte, as a volunteer assistant from 2007-09 while she continued training for her professional career. In 2009-10, Hicks served as a volunteer assistant at Bethune-Cookman.
 
Hicks then moved to the high school ranks in Miami, Fla., as an assistant coach at Christopher Columbus High School in 2012-13 and head coach at Coral Reef High School in 2013-14.
 
Hicks (then Woods) was a standout student-athlete at Charlotte from 2004-07. A four-time All-American, Hicks was the first 49er to earn two All-American honors in the same season. Hicks was a standout sprinter who won nine individual conference championships and five relay conference titles. She recorded the most all-conference performances (17) in program history. Hicks was a two-time Atlantic 10 Conference Performer of the Meet at the league indoor championships and led Charlotte to four Atlantic 10 team indoor and outdoor championships.
 
She was the first 49ers female sprinter to qualify for the NCAA Championships and the first 49er to compete in three events at an NCAA Championships meet. Hicks boasts the best national finish ever by a 49ers track & field student-athlete with her fourth-place performance in the 200-meter dash at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
Hicks also shares or owns eight Charlotte program records. In the fall of 2019, Charlotte Athletics honored Hicks in a jersey retirement recognition at the 49ers football homecoming game. She was then inducted into to the Charlotte Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 2020.
 
Originally from Fort Bragg, N.C., Hicks and her husband, Antwon, have one daughter, Semira.
 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT SHAREESE HICKS

                                                         
Austin Peay Head Coach Valerie Brown
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley made a terrific hire. I have had the pleasure of knowing Shareese since college while competing internationally. I have watched her grow into a great woman, wife, mother, and leader. 
 
Over the years she has grown and became such a fierce track coach who brings a lot of passion and commitment in the development of young men and women in life. She is a tremendous leader and has earned this opportunity. I can’t wait to watch her do great things in Texas. Get it done Shareese!
 
UNC Charlotte Director of Athletics Emerita Judy Rose 
Shareese is one of the greatest competitors I have ever known, and she is an even better person overall. She leads by example on and off the track. I am so excited for the student-athletes at UTRGV. Her winning attitude and her personal accomplishments are truly inspirational.
 
Memphis Head Coach Kevin Robinson
She has that edge, that little chip on her shoulder that’s going to help elevate this program to the next level.