SAN ANTONIO ? The UTSA men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the Ricardo Romo/Six Flags Fiesta Texas Classic this Friday-Saturday at Brooks City-Base.
The two-day meet ? formerly known as the UTSA Invitational but renamed last August to honor UTSA President Dr. Ricardo Romo, the first Texan to break the four-minute barrier in the mile ? gets underway Friday with the collegiate women’s 5,000-meter races starting at 6 p.m., followed by the collegiate men’s 5k at 6:30 p.m. UTSA will compete against teams from Concordia, Palo Alto, St. Edward’s, St. Mary’s (women only), Texas (men only), Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas State and Western Texas College. Fourteen high school races will be held Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The UTSA women are looking to defend their team title won last year in convincing fashion. Hope Jimenez finished third overall and first among collegians to lead the Roadrunners to a team score of 18, well ahead of runner-up St. Mary’s (63). Sophomores Dana Mecke, Faith Barlow and Katy Spence posted top-10 finishes, as well, placing fourth, fifth and 10th, respectively.
The Roadrunners finished fifth in their last outing on Sept. 8 at the Texas State Invitational. Mecke finished sixth between four volleyball matches that weekend, while Barlow was 14th.
The UTSA men finished second to a strong Rice squad last year behind top-six finishes from Carlos Perez and Benson Cheserek. Sophomore Corey Vargas was 17th, while senior Eric Miller placed 20th as the Roadrunners scored 48 points to Rice’s 20. UTSA last won the team title in 2004, but the '05 meet was cancelled due to the threat of Hurricane Rita.
UTSA is coming off a solid showing at the Texas State Invitational two weeks ago. Freshman Brandon Chiuminetta and Miller finished 17th and 18th, respectively, to lead the Roadrunners to a third-place showing behind Texas and Texas-Pan American.
For more meet information and results, click here.
