Getting to Know the Southland: Men’s Cross Country

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men’s cross country team is ready to go in the hyper competitive Southland Conference (SLC) that has seen five different teams win a team championship over the past five seasons:

• 2019 – Lamar
• 2020 – Southeastern
• 2021 – McNeese
• 2022 – Incarnate Word (UIW)
• 2023 – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Last year, UIW was two points away from being the first back-to-back champions since 2017, but ultimately fell to the Islanders who won their first team conference championship.

At the South Central Region meet last year, Dennis Kipngeno led all SLC competitors with a 12^th place finish and a time of 29:50.5 while UIW led all SLC teams with a fifth-place team finish ahead of Texas A&M, Houston, and TCU, among others.

In 2024, newcomers UTRGV and Stephen F. Austin will join Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern, Texas A&M-Commerce, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to make up the 12 men’s cross country institutions in the SLC.

These 12 teams will meet on Nov. 1 in New Orleans for the 2024 SLC Cross Country Championships.

Among current members, McNeese has the highest finish in NCAA Championship history after placing 21^st in 1973 and 34^th in 1976.

Individually, the SLC has had two student-athletes finish in seventh, Shadrack Songok from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2007 and David Rooney from McNeese in 2012.

Among current members, Lamar has won a league-best 17 team conference championships with their most recent coming in 2019, followed by McNeese with nine, Stephen F. Austin with five, and Southeastern, UIW, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with one apiece.

Likewise, Lamar has a league-best 12 individual conference championships with their most recent coming in 2019, followed by McNeese with seven, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with six, Stephen F. Austin with four, Southeastern with three, and Nicholls with one.