Women’s Outdoor Track & Field

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) women’s outdoor track & field team will begin competing in the Southland Conference (SLC) this upcoming season, and they’ll be adding to a league that is already deeply competitive.

The 2024 season marked the third consecutive time a different team has won the SLC Outdoor Championship – and the third season in a row a program lifted its first trophy. Northwestern State won a nailbiter this spring, outscoring McNeese 182.5 to 181. The tight finish represented how talented the conference was last season as six Southland records were broken.

Lamar and McNeese won their first outdoor team titles in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Prior to the new champions, Stephen F. Austin won back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2021, growing their total to a conference-best 10 trophies before heading to a different conference. SFA returned to the SLC on July 1 as UTRGV moved to the conference, bringing the total number of outdoor programs to 12. The Vaqueros will look to become just the fifth active SLC member to win the outdoor championship.

SFA also leads the conference in individual titles with 72, but Northwestern State has claimed seven winners in the last two seasons, closing the gap with 70 total titles. Lamar holds a conference-best 11 event championships in the last two seasons.

The Southland has notched 65 NCAA All-American honors since 1986. The conference had two Second Team All-Americans in 2022, and SFA tabbed two Second Team honors in 20233 while competing in the Western Athletic Conference. Northwestern State leads active programs with seven All-Americans.

Current SLC representatives have sent 10 individuals and one relay to the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2022. In 2024, Northwestern State’s 4×400-meter relay team qualified for the national meet. The Southland sent two qualifiers in 2023 and three in 2022, along with three from SFA.

The conference was also represented at the 2024 U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials as Lamar’s Chloe Rodriguez competed in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.