Sometimes it takes change to rejuvenate a program, and first-year Head Coach Darren Flowers is mixing it up to move UTRGV cross-country in the right direction.
Hired in June, the former West Texas A&M University head coach recorded six Lone Star Conference cross-country championships and seven track & field LSC championships in his eight years in the North Texas city of Canyon. Since starting practice with his new group over the summer at UTRGV, the team has grown to like the changes and coaching methods Flowers has brought to the program.
“I think the adjustment has been pretty good,” junior runner Alberto Herrera said. “He’s a cool guy and his workouts are pretty tough, but I think we’ve been adjusting to it and I think we’re benefiting pretty good from them.”
One of the biggest differences from a year ago is how Flowers has his team practicing and running at multiple locations, a drastic alteration from running the same route day after day like they had been used to.
“We get to run in different places, we’re all over the place,” said Herrera, a Weslaco East High School graduate. “Last year, we were kind of just in one route in Edinburg, but it’s definitely fun, and a lot more volume I’d say, too.”
If you spot the cross-country team out running one morning, you may see Flowers joining in on the fun. While he joked his student-athletes leave him behind on the runs, it gives him a chance to utilize his hands-on approach, which gives him an up-close look at how the team handles and feels during and after workouts.
“They’re killing me on a daily basis,” Flowers joked. “The good part about me getting out and running with them is seeing how they’re feeling, just talking to them. You just get a better vibe of how they’re feeling coming off workouts and how they’re feeling throughout the week. I feel like if I just send them out for a run and I only see them for five minutes here at the track, then I don’t get the full picture. I don’t get the full idea of how they’re feeling week to week.”
The team opened its season Sept. 1 at Texas A&M University’s Aggie Opener, where the team finished in fourth place. Herrera led UTRGV with a 10th-place finish in the 6,000-meter race with a time of 18:40.7. Out front for the women was sophomore Krysta Martinez, an Edcouch-Elsa product, who finished in 19th place in the 4,100-meter race. Right behind Martinez was sophomore Ana Bautista who posted a 21st-place finish.
The youth on the women’s team will have to learn quickly and become leaders with no seniors on the active team, as seniors Teresa Sova and Jennifer Zapata are redshirting this year.
“With us redshirting Jennifer and Terry this year, we don’t have the depth that we’ve had in the past,” Flowers said. “But the girls that are stepping up, Thalia Polanco, she’s stepping up big. I think she’s going to be a big factor this year, and Krysta Martinez, she was a big impact last year. We have Kelly Aguinaga, who is young. She’s a freshman, but we need her to step up and be a factor as well, but the girls are coming on great.”
Over the next six weeks, the competition will ramp up for the men’s and women’s cross-country teams. First up is the Islander Splash in Corpus Christi on Saturday, followed by the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., Sept. 30 and the Crimson Classic Oct. 13 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Those three races will prepare UTRGV for the Western Athletic Conference Championships Oct. 28 in Las Cruces, N.M.
“This next four-week stretch is really important, and the way we race, the way we develop as a team,” Flowers said. “I think our main goal is to figure out how we race as a team best. If we can do that in the next four weeks, I think it’ll give us a really great game plan going into the WAC championships and going into the regional championships.”
Herrera said the team is on the same page with its first-year head coach in terms of where they want to be at the end of the season.
“I’m super excited, especially for these upcoming meets,” Herrera said. “We definitely want to finish top three as a team in the WAC championship and top 10 in the region.”
With Flowers running things for the cross-country program at UTRGV, things are changing for the better.
“There’s a learning curve involved, but I think the attitudes have been outstanding,” he said. “The work ethic has been outstanding, so I’m really excited about this group and I’m really excited about the steps we’re going to take this year.”
UTRGV cross-country is back in action for the Islander Splash at 7:40 a.m. Saturday in Corpus Christi as Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi hosts the South Texas Showdown.
