Cross Country Riding Momentum Into NCAA South Central Regional

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) men’s and women’s cross country teams are riding some momentum into the 2024 NCAA South Central Regional after strong outings at their first Southland Conference Championships.

The regional meet will take place Friday at Texas A&M’s Dale Watts Cross Country Course. The women’s team will run a 6K race starting at 9 a.m. and the men’s team will run at 10 a.m. in a 10K race.

The South Central meet is one of nine regional championships being held across the country Friday. The top two teams from each regional secure automatic bids to the NCAA Div. I Cross Country Championship, and the first four regional finishers not on a qualifying or at-large team will advance to the national championship. The NCAA Div. I Cross Country Subcommittee will select 13 at-large teams and two at-large individuals to compete at the national meet, scheduled for Nov. 23 in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday.

UTRGV will be represented by 12 student-athletes at the regional meet. Running for the women’s team will be senior Sam Gonzalez, juniors Lilliana Guerrero and PSJA High alum Faith Cruz, sophomore Kailey Salazar, and freshmen Santa Maria alum Mia Picazo and Rio Grande City alum Morgan Ramos. Running for the men’s team will be junior Abraham Morales, sophomores Mario Canterero and McAllen Rowe alum Kevin Cardenas, and a trio of freshmen in Mario Guzman, Weslaco East alum Eric Davis and Edinburg Vela alum Ethan De Leon. 

This next meet poses new challenges, including a large field of competitors and a distance increase for the men’s racers. But the Vaqueros are feeling confident after earning their best team finishes at a conference meet in four seasons as the women’s team took sixth and the men’s team was ninth at the Southland Conference (SLC) Championships two weeks ago. Gonzalez earned a 10^th place finish and tabbed Second Team All-Conference honors with the big performance. UTRGV collected three top-25 finishes at conference as Cruz was 20^th in the women’s race and Morales took 22^nd in the men’s race.