In their own backyard

For the first time in his eight years with UTPA/UTRGV, Head Coach Xavier Richardson will have the opportunity to lead his team to a conference tournament on its home track.

Just two years after opening the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex, the Western Athletic Conference will converge May 10-13 in Edinburg to compete for the Outdoor Championship. Last year, the men’s team finished fourth with 88 points, while the women’s group finished fifth, with 19.16.

The atmosphere around practice was lighthearted as they prepared for their last tournament of the season.

“It’s mostly excitement from them,” Richardson said. “The opportunity of getting to protect your own house and being able to compete where you’re comfortable has a competitive advantage.”

The veteran head coach is glad to host the meet but he’s taking a unique approach to ensure his team remembers this is a real competition. The Vaqueros will still stay in a hotel during the four-day tournament.

“You don’t want to change things, especially when it’s the most important meet of the season,” Richardson said. “I know what it’s like to have a conference championship at home and wake up in your own bed and not really have that sense of ‘It’s a meet, not a practice.’ We wanted to make sure that we put them in the same competitive mode that we do every other weekend.”

Idatonye Cheetham-West is competing in her first WAC competition. She’ll be competing in multis, which consist of a medley of events, both running and field.

“Coming, here, it’s where I needed to be,” Cheetham-West said. “And not competing last year, it really helped my determination. It changed my whole mindset; I think God really changed my mindset. I guess even though it was really frustrating and I really wanted to travel it really helped me because I came back even stronger. I’m running even faster and being a multi now doing all these events.”

She’ll be counted in for a lot of points, which are crucial toward team success. The sophomore from the northeast Houston suburb of Kingwood is eager to get the tournament underway and hopes to compile points.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding,” Cheetham-West said. “The multi I’m with, some of the people on the team I consider them my community and they really keep me motivated and keep me going.”

She has earned the nickname, “Baby Superman,” by her coach due to her raw power that she’s trying to master. She’ll hope to draw from that natural strength, along with the technical advice she’s been given by upperclassmen such as senior Leslie Luna.

Also preparing for conference competition are the hurdlers.

The men’s hurdling group consists of Rodrigo Silva, Dimitris Levantinos and Carlos Serna-Hernandez.

Competitors will likely run in 90- or even 100-degree heat come the meet and Levantinos feels that plays into UTRGV’s favor. In 103 degrees last week, they seemed to have no problem going through their routine drills and practice.

“It will be an advantage because the weather is getting hotter and hotter and hotter,” Levantinos said. ”The first year here, I was trying to adjust to the workouts. I’m doing better with my coach, we have more communication. I’m doing better, so I’m confident that I’m going to go again to the finals and I’m going to do better than eighth place.”

The 5-foot-10-inch sophomore from Athens, Greece, said his improvement is owed to his teammates along with his coach.

“It makes me better because I have competitors that push every single day. I tried to push them and they do the same with me,” he said.

His 400-meter hurdle time is down to 55.07, much better than his 56.38 or even 57.39 that he ran last March.

The women’s hurdle group will look to bring another gold medal a year after senior Geneva Anderson won gold at the WAC Outdoor meet last year.

Last season also saw a lot of success from throwers, most of whom graduated. Paul May, a conference winner as a freshman, will hope to defend his title in the discus throw. His gold medal was for a throw of 49.01, just seven centimeters better than former teammate Isaac Samuels.

The Vaqueros will hope that throwers, jumpers, sprinters and distance runners perform at a high level to win their first WAC Championship on home soil. They will try to upend Grand Canyon University, which swept the competition last year.