Kingsville - The record-setting Texas A&M-Kingsville men's and women's track and field teams are hitting the oval for the first time in 2026 at the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational in Houston on Saturday.

The Javelinas will be bringing 59 athletes (32 men, 27 women) to Houston, and will be competing against a number of Division One opponents. Twelve other schools will be competing at the Invite alongside Kingsville, including multiple Power Four programs (Houston (Host), Huston-Tillotson, Jacksonville College, Lamar, Prairie View A&M, Rice (Men), Sam Houston, St. Thomas (TX), Texas, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas Southern, and UTRGV).

"We have great athletes and always expect to have some event winners and high-placers no matter what the circumstances are and who we're competing against," Head Coach Ryan Dall said.

Though it will be the first chance for the Javelinas to compete since the turn of the calendar, a small crew of Kingsville's athletes already have a meet under their belts, having travelled to Pittsburg, KS for a pair of Invites on December fifth and sixth. Those squads excelled in the Sunflower State, with three Javelinas holding top-12 scores in the nation in their events so far this season, led by senior women's high jumper Madison Ramos. Ramos broke her own school record in the event, clearing a bar set at 1.76m, tying her for the second-highest clearance in the nation.

"I'm excited to get the season underway with most of our team," Dall said. "The first meet in December was just a small group. We probably won't be at full strength until the end of the month and we certainly aren't in peak form, but I like to see how everyone competes and get a preview of what we can expect going forward."

Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse, at which the Javelinas are no stranger, features a six-lane 200m track with an eight-lane 60m straightaway for both sprints and hurdle events. After a schedule update was released on Wednesday, the start of field events at the Invite will begin at 10:00 a.m., with running events set for 1:30 p.m. (schedule attached). Both live stats and a YouTube live stream will be available for the Invite and are linked.