Junior sprinter Zoë Adams (left) competes Feb. 19 at the Western Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico. PHOTO COURTESY UTRGV ATHLETICS
The UTRGV Track & Field teams started their outdoor season with their first meet March 14 at the Kirk Baptiste Spring Break Invitational in Houston.
Head coach Shareese Hicks said several events are available during the outdoor season, such as the javelin throw, hammer throw and 4×100 meter relay.
“There are a lot of events that we get to do outside that we are better at,” Hicks said. “I don’t want to call us an outdoor team, but we kind of are. That’s just the nature of where we are located. We train outside all the time. We are comfortable outside.”
She said the team has an advantage due to how it trains and where the university is located.
“We are one of the few universities in our conference where we can train outside all year,” Hicks said. “Being in a place where it’s pretty much 80 degrees all year for a sprinter is huge.”
She said the spring break invitational was one of the best openers the teams have had since she joined the program in 2021.
“Everybody is either right at their personal best, or they are figuring some things out to get them to their personal best in the next couple of meets,” said Hicks.
She said a lot of the sprinters are going into the next meet competing in their best events, such as junior Zoe Adams who is competing in the 400-meter dash.
The coach also said many of the schools will be competing in their first meet, while UTRGV has already competed and can carry some momentum into the next meet.
“Whereas they are going into it and this is their first meet, we’re on meet No. 2,” she said. “That should provide everybody with a lot of confidence and lead to some great performances.”
Adams said her main events are the 200- and 400-meter dash.
She said she had goals in mind for the 400-meter dash.
“Coach Hicks had a goal of 53 [seconds] for me, but she thinks I can go 52,” Adams said. “So, I guess my goal for the 400 can be 52, and then for the 200, I just wanna go 23.”
Freshman sprinter Gael Romo said whatever event he competes in he tries his hardest.
“Indoor is more like a warmup, I would say, to prepare us for outdoor,” Romo said. “Our training gets a lot more sustainable as we get to outdoor.”
He said some challenges of competing during the outdoor season are that some events are longer.
“Obviously, our weather plays an impact as well as the wind, the temperatures outside,” Romo said. “We are in Texas, so it’s always gonna be hot. Another one I would say is a lot more schools go to outdoor meets. It’s a lot better competition.”
He said he wants to place in the conference and make it to regionals or, possibly, nationals.
The teams competed in the Texas A&M University Invitational on Saturday. Results were not available at press time Friday.
Freshman sprinter Gael Romo (left) competes in the annual Orange & Gray Intrasquad meet Dec. 1, 2023 at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex on the Edinburg campus. PHOTO COURTESY UTRGV ATHLETICS
