HOBBS, N.M. (October 16, 2026) – The University of Texas Permian Basin women's cross country team closed out its regular season on Friday, October 16, when the Falcons traveled to Hobbs, New Mexico, to compete in the Thunderbird Open at Harry McAdams Park.

The Falcons were previously scheduled to compete in the SPC Invitational hosted by South Plains College back on Friday, October 2, but the event was canceled because of poor course conditions caused by inclement weather and the race was not rescheduled.

Six Falcons competed in their first 5K race of the season.

Kylie Valenzuela led the way with a new personal record time of 21:11.1, good for 23rd place out of 46 runners.

Also running new personal records were Brianna Valenzuela (24:41.3) in 39th and Sydney Young (25:08.7) in 42nd.

Finishing one spot ahead of Young was Josilynn Munoz (25:00.6) in 41st.

The rest of the team saw Katelyn Hernandez (25:12.9) finish 43rd and Abbygail Campos (27:07.6) finish 45th.

The Falcons finished fifth out of five teams with 129 points and trailed the hosts from New Mexico Junior College with 65 points. However, Head Coach Melanie Ramirez believes the team would have fared better if its fastest runner (Celine Maldonado) would have been able to compete.

UT Permian Basin is off until Saturday, November 7, when it returns to the LCU Cross Country Course in Lubbock, Texas, to compete at the Lone Star Conference Championships.