What’s happening in sports?

With less than a month away from the first Western Athletic Tournament of the 2019-2020 season, the cross-country, soccer and volleyball programs at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley have already reached great heights.

On the Men’s Cross-Country Team, sophomore Abraham Chirchir won the first race of the season at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Opener. He finished the 6K race with a time of 18:17.9, making it the fourth fastest time in program history.

Junior distance runner Abraham Chirchir races last year at the Texas A&M University Dale Watts Cross-Country Field in College Station. PHOTO COURTESY UTRGV ATHLETICS

Chirchir won his second race of the season at the Texas A&M Invitational. He finished the 8K race with a time of 24:36.9. At the 31st Annual Chile Pepper Festival, Chirchir recorded the fourth fastest 8K time in program history (24:09.3) and placed 11 out of 304 runners.

In team performances, the men finished second and the women placed sixth at the UIW Opener. At the Texas A&M Invitational, both the men and women conquered a fourth-place finish.

In the Women’s Cross-Country Team, sophomore Dorcas Koech received her first career win at the UIW 4K race with a time of 14:51.0. She went on to shatter the program record for the 5K race at the 31st Annual Chile Pepper Festival. Koech ran the race in 17:10.7, which is 23.3 seconds better than the previous record set by Elizabeth Ortega-Hilpert in 1995.

Freshman Sharon Koima entered the record books at the same festival when she ran the eighth-fastest time in program history (17:56.5).

On Oct. 5, the United States Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) unveiled regional rankings. The women’s team was voted No. 12.

The cross-country teams will compete at the WAC Championships hosted by the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) on Nov. 2 at Swope Park in Missouri.

The Women’s Soccer Team is currently in third place in the WAC standings, with a record of 2-0-1 behind Seattle University and California Baptist University. UTRGV tied 1-1 with UMKC in double overtime and went on to defeat Grand Canyon University 1-0 and Chicago State University 2-0.

Seattle University will host the Women’s WAC Soccer Tournament on Nov. 6, 8 and 10 at Championship Field in Seattle.

For the Men’s Soccer Team, the season has been filled with recognitions. On Sept. 30, the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 National Ranking revealed UTRGV came in at No. 24. Additionally, the team moved up to No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches Far West Region.

UTRGV was also the only team in the WAC to make the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and one of two WAC programs in the regional ranking.

On Oct. 1, UTRGV received votes in the United Soccer Coaches (USC) National Poll. The last time this was done was on Oct. 23, 2018. So far, UTRGV has posted wins against top teams such as Wofford College (2-1), Stetson University (2-0), Marshall University (3-2 and ranked fourth in the Southeast Region), University of Central Arkansas (1-0 and ranked 10th in the Southeast Region), the University of Nevada Las Vegas (2-0) and the defending WAC Champion Air Force
(2-0).

The team also earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic awards for having a GPA of 3.0 or higher during the 2018-19 academic year.

Middle blocker Veronika Jandova serves the ball during the WAC home opener game against Grand Canyon University on Oct. 10 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. AMANDA VELA/THE RIDER

Currently, UTRGV stands in third place behind Utah Valley and Seattle University with a 3-2 WAC record. The WAC tournament is set to take place on Nov. 13, 15 and 17 at Cadet Soccer Stadium in the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

With half of the season remaining, the volleyball team has reached both personal and team achievements. On Aug. 31, junior setter Debora Nazario and junior middle blocker Veronika Jandova became members of the 2019 Barcelona Sports Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading UTRGV to the Houston Baptist University Tournament co-championship.

Senior right side hitter Barbara Silva recorded a career-high 24 kills against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Sept. 4.

History was made on two occasions for the volleyball team. The first time, UTRGV defeated a Big 10 opponent on Sept. 6 at the University of Texas at San Antonio Classic against the University
of Maryland 3-2. On Sept. 20, the team took a set from a Pac-12 opponent for the first time against Washington State University. The 2019 WAC Volleyball Tournament will be held Nov. 21 to 23 at Lockhart Arena in Orem, Utah.

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