- November 1, 2024
Cross Country Heads to New Orleans for First SLC Championships
A new opportunity is on the horizon for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) cross country program as the Vaqueros head to New Orleans to compete in their first Southland Conference (SLC) Championships.
The conference meet is set for Friday at Lake Oaks Park and will be streamed live on ESPN+. The women’s 6K race will run at 8:30 a.m. followed by the men’s run at 9:30 a.m. in an 8K race. The course is relatively flat and runners will do three laps in the women’s race and four in the men’s.
“We are extremely excited and looking forward to having some outstanding performances. We’re ready to go. The energy is right, the chemistry is right, and we’re really ready to bring this Valley speed to New Orleans,” head track & field/cross country coach Shareese Hicks said.
UTRGV will be competing against hosting New Orleans, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Stephen F. Austin, Southeastern, Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Two teams are ranked in the South Central Region with Lamar sitting sixth and Corpus sitting ninth ahead of the SLC Championships. On the men’s side, UIW is fifth, SFA is seventh, Corpus is 13th, and Lamar is 14th in the South Central standings.
The Vaqueros know the competition is strong, but they’re going in with confidence in their training and performances from the season. They’ve shown consistent improvement under assistant distance coach Ricardo Mendoza.
“We’re definitely trying to make a top-five push. To come away with a trophy is going to be extremely hard, we understand that we’re against some very formidable opponents. But we trust our hard work,” Hicks said. “We’re hoping to keep that ‘Mendoza Magic’ going and keep relying on their teammates, being positive and bringing the great team chemistry and energy to the meet and hopefully we can walk away with something special.”
The weather looks favorable and the course runs similar to the terrain UTRGV practices with. The Vaqueros are going to lean on their race strategies and the positive culture of the team as they leave it all on the course.
“If it’s someone not wearing orange, gray and white, you have to be ahead of them. That’s the mindset and mentality we’re going with for the men and women. It’s really time to compete and I trust our team to be able to compete very well,” Hicks said.