RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros track & field program had a strong indoor season filled with program records and consistent growth, all fueled by an infectious, positive energy radiated throughout the team.
“The team’s culture has been a true reflection of what it takes to be a contender at this level, which directly impacted our performance in the indoor season,” TF/XC head coach Shareese Hicks said. “Everyone not only understood their job but did their job very well. We saw a lot of our top performers growing into the leadership roles they were assigned way before they set foot on campus. The effort put in by these young people was tremendous and took great courage and mental toughness. I cannot say enough how proud of them we are.”
The tone for the season was set at the very first meet in Houston. UTRGV earned eight top-five finishes at the Robert Platt Invitational, including a third-place finish in the women’s jump jump from freshman Rayja’nae Pettit. Graduate students Jada Hoffman and Marlene Gutierrez were stellar in their UTRGV debuts, finishing fourth in the women’s 60-meter dash and fourth in the women’s weight throw, respectively. That success foretold of the trio being among the top performers for the Vaqueros throughout the indoor season.
Gutierrez made one of 10 entries into the record books at the season-opening meet. Freshman Jedidiah Udunna’s personal-best mark in the men’s long jump burst him onto the scene in his first collegiate meet as he jumped 7.22 meters to take sixth with the second-best jump in program history. Hoffman, senior Yashawn Hamilton and junior Uxia Pereira were standouts in the men’s 60-meter dash and women’s 60-meter hurdles, respectively.
The first program record fell the following week at the Texas Tech Open. Freshman Symoria Adkins ran 8.64 in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, leaping to the No. 1 spot in indoor history.
Hoffman, Pereira, Gutierrez, junior Jermarrion Stewart and junior Aisha Gay were other standouts at the meet. Gutierrez won the Section B women’s weight throw. All five student-athletes made entries into the program record books, in addition to Adkins doing that twice with a speedy performance in the women’s 200-meter dash the day after breaking the hurdles record.
UTRGV returned to Lubbock two weeks later for the Jarvis Scott Open – which proved to be a tremendous meet for the Vaqueros. They totaled 32 personal records, 14 record book entries and two program records at the meet.
Adkins broke her own school record by running 8.62 in a third-place finish in the women’s 60-meter hurdles. Pettit broke the school record in the women’s triple jump as she earned a silver medal with a mark of 12.49 meters. Pettit also finished second in the women’s long jump with the 10th best jump in program history (5.81 meters).
Gutierrez notched a massive 19.02 meters throw to win the Section A women’s weight throw – crossing the 19+ threshold for the first time in her career. Gay leapt to the No. 3 spot in the program record books and Western Athletic Conference (WAC) performance list with her 55.90 time in the women’s 400-meter dash and hit the eight-best time in the 200-meter dash (24.82). Senior Edinburg North alum Tristan Pena had a good weekend, entering the record books in the men’s 800-meter run and mile. Hoffman and freshman Nayla Harris also got into the record books in the women’s 60-meter dash, while Hoffman added a PR in the 200-dash.
Seeing that consistent progress fueled the Vaqueros as they headed to the WAC Indoor Championships determined to rise above their projected 10th-place finishes in the women’s and men’s pre-conference coaches polls.
At the conference meet, UTRGV accumulated a whopping 39 personal bests and three program records with 18 total entries into the record books.
“Our main goal was to make significant strides up the rankings across all event groups. We also wanted to set some school records and maximize our efforts indoors to set us up for the outdoor season,” Hicks said. “I believe we met those expectations and even superseded those expectations in some cases.”
The women’s team had a particularly stellar conference meet. Adkins lowered the program record in the 60 hurdles at the third consecutive meet, running 8.51 in the preliminary round to advance to finals. Hoffman broke the program record in the 60-dash, running 7.51 to advance to finals. Gay broke the program record in the 200-meter dash prelim race, clocking in at 24.29 to advance to finals.
All of UTRGV’s conference medals were won by women – Gutierrez won silver in weight throw, Gay won bronze in the 400-meter dash and junior Zoe Vlk won bronze in shot put. All Vaqueros to advance to four finals races were women – Adkins, who finished fourth in the 60 hurdles; Hoffman, who was eighth in the 60 dash; and Gay, who also took sixth in the 200 dash. All four women’s 60-meter dash runners and all six women’s 200-meter dash participants ran PRs, and UTRGV’s women’s throwers went 3-for-3 with PRs in shot put.
UTRGV’s women finished ninth as a unit, and the men finished 10th. Both teams put their best foot forward both athletically and spiritually, encouraging and supporting one another from start to finish.
Hicks was proud of the way both teams bought in to the culture and process the coaching staff believes in. The growth in the student-athletes is undeniable, and so is their work ethic. The program is going to keep building and take the incredible momentum and team chemistry developed throughout the indoor season and ride that to bigger things in the outdoor campaign.
“Our women’s team has made significant progress and our men’s team will follow this upcoming outdoor season. We are much more balanced as a team, and that fact has laid a strong foundation for us in the years to come,” Hicks said. “We took a couple of days to reset and assess, then got back to relentlessly pursuing our goals. The job is not finished. The business-first mentality that we have adopted has been key, along with the emphasis on team support. We work together and we win together. That will continue to carry us through.”
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