LUBBOCK, Texas (November 7, 2026) – The UT Permian Basin women's cross country team began postseason competition on Saturday, traveling to Lubbock, Texas, for the 2026 Lone Star Conference Cross Country Championship, hosted by Lubbock Christian University at the LCU Cross Country Course.

Leading the Falcons for the third race in a row was Kylie Valenzuela with a 6K time of 26:28.4, good for 94th out of 121 runners and a new personal record by 27.9 seconds. It was UTPB's fifth fastest time at the conference championship in the last six seasons, trailing only Amber Martin (26:24.06 – 2021) and Alauna Stackhouse (26:11.7 – 2022; 25:18.96 – 2023; 25:51.44 – 2024).

It was the second year in a row UTPB's top runner finished 94th at the conference championship. Last year it was Celine Maldonado at 26:40.32 at AP Ranch in Fort Worth, Texas. This year, Maldonado finished 110th with a time of 27:51.1.

Next was Brianna Valenzuela in 114th at 29:36.4 while Abbygail Campos (30:56.2; PR by 2:01) and Katelyn Hernandez (31:02.7; PR by 3:04) finished back-to-back in 116th and 117th, respectively.

Sydney Young (31:21.4), Josilynn Munoz (31:35.8) and Angelina Arriaga (31:43.7; PR by 2:38) rounded out the competition.

As a team, UTPB was 15th with 471 points.

The NCAA Division II South Central Regional will be held Saturday, November 21, back at LCU Cross Country Course.