The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2020-21 Track & Field / Cross Country Roster
Roster
Rodger Rivera
- Position:
- Distance
- Hometown:
- El Paso, Texas
- Weight:
- null
- Class:
- Freshman
- High School:
- Hanks
- Major:
- Master's in design focused on health
- 2025 SEC Academic Honor Roll
- 2023 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-American
- 2023 All-Region Team - Cross Country
- 2023 All-Big 12 Team - Cross Country
- Second Team All-American USTFCCCA• 2023 Indoor
- 2022 All-Big 12 Team - Cross Country
COLLEGIATE BESTS AND RESULTS VIA TFRRS
2024-25 (Senior)
Outdoor: Ran the 5000-meter in 14:20.61 to finish 9th overall at the Texas Relays... Finished 8th at the Bryan Clay Invite with a time of 13:41.49 in the 5000-meter and moved to No. 3 on the UT all-time performer list... Competed at the SEC Championships in the 5K and finished in 14:24.27 after getting tripped up in the field of 51.
Indoor: Opened the indoor season at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in the 3K and finished in 8:00.27 to lead the Longhorns... Competed in the 3K (8:02:95) at the SEC Championships...
Cross Country: Returned to racing at the Stormy Seas Opener and finished the 5K in 15:32.1... Was 43rd in the South Central Regional in the 10K with a time of 31:05.7...
2023-24 (Junior)
Cross Country: Ran his first cross country 5K in 14:51.3 to finish third at the Southwestern-Concordia Opener… Was fifth in the 8K at the Cowboy Jamboree with his time of 24:06.3... Finished 50th at the 2023 Nuttycombe Invitational in the 8K with a time of 24:07.3... Ran a PB in the 8K at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 23:10.6 to finish 10th... Ran a PB at the South Central Regional in the 10K with a time of 28:59.5 to finish fourth overall... Finished 23rd overall at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the 10K with his time of 29:33.0.
2022-23 (Junior)
INDOOR: Opened his indoor season in the mile at the John Thomas Terrier Classic and finished with a time of 4:12.78...Scored three points at the Big 12 Championships finishing sixth in the 3K with his time of 8:12.89... Ran the anchor leg of the DMR at the NCAA Indoor Championships that finished 10th with a time of 9:52.29...
Cross Country: Made his 2022 season debut and finished 30th with his time of 23:55.0, just 1.5 seconds off his personal best in the 8K...Was the third Texas finisher in the 8K at the Panorama Farms XC 23 Invitational, running a personal-best time of 23:35.2... Named to the All-Big 12 team with his 10th-place finish in the 8K with a time of 24:31.2 at the Big 12 Championships.... Ran at the NCAA South Central Region and helped Texas advance to the NCAA Championships.... Competed in the 10K at the NCAA Championships and was the fourth to finish at 30:35.1 and helped Texas finish 18th overall...
2021-22 (Sophomore)
INDOOR: Recorded two top-three performances at the Clemson Invitational, including a second-place finish as part of the Texas DMR 'B' team and third in the mile with a time of 4:05.58... Finished with a personal-best time in the 3K with a time of 7:57.49 at the Camel City Invitational - the performance ranks as the No. 4 performer/performance in Texas history... Ran the mile in 4:09.95 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational... Recorded two fourth-place finishes at the Big 12 Championships in the 3000m and the 5000m with times of 7:57.14 and 13:41.42, respectively.
CROSS COUNTRY: Started the 2021 season with a third-place finish in the 5K with a time of 15:09.5 at the Tornado Watch Invitational to help the men's team score a perfect 15 points... Added the third top-20 finish for the Horns at the Cowboy Jamboree, finishing 19th in the 8K with his time of 24:13.0 and helped the team finish fourth... Was the fourth Longhorn to finish the 8K with a personal-best time of 23:53.5 at the FSU Invite to help No. 24 Texas finish sixth overall... Helped Texas finish third at the Big 12 Championships with his 16th-place finish in the 8K with his time of 24:45.3.... Helped Texas defend its 2019 NCAA South Central Region title finishing third overall with his time of 30:17.9 to earn USTFCCCA All-Region honors... Was the third Longhorn to complete the 10K at the NCAA Championships with his personal-best time of 30:03.7.
2020-21 (Freshman)
OUTDOOR: Ran a personal-best time of 14:24.02 in the 5000-meter at the Texas Relays to finish eighth... Finished with a personal-best time of 8:15.74 in the 3000-meter at the Texas A&M dual meet to finish fifth... Competed at the Michael Johnson Invitational in the 5000-meter and finished with a time of 14:45.29... Closed the season at the Texas Invitational in the 5000-meter and finished third with a time of 14:42.10.
INDOOR: Did not compete.
CROSS COUNTRY: Began his collegiate career at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, running a personal-best time of 24:18.1 in the 8K to finish ninth overall... Competed at the Big 12 Championships in the 8K with a time of 24:20.4.
HIGH SCHOOL: Lettered four times in cross country and three times in track at Hanks … starred in the 5K, 1600m, 3200m and 800m in high school … an All-State cross country performer twice, finishing eighth as a junior and third as a senior at the state meet.
PERSONAL: Son of Rodger Rivera and Veronica Ahrendes … has one sister, Mia Rivera … a first-generation college student-athlete … began competing in track and field at age 14 … wants to attend medical school after his track and field career concludes … can play saxophone and is passionate about jazz music … also enjoys snowboarding … had a 4.0 GPA in high school.
