? Results
CORPUS CHRISTI ? Sophomore Dana Mecke became UTSA’s sixth all-conference performer in the past six seasons with a sixth-place finish as the UTSA women’s cross country team placed eighth at the Southland Conference Championships held Saturday morning at West Guth Park.
Mecke toured the 6k trek in a time of 21:44.9 in picking up her first all-league accolade. In finishing as the top Roadrunner for the fifth time this fall, the two-sport standout ? who played in volleyball matches Wednesday and Friday nights ? joined Hope Jimenez (2006), Veronica Silva (2005), Rita Lambert (2004), Ashley McDonald (2004) and Leticia Cerna (2002) as All-SLC performers over the past six championships.
“I can always count on Dana to finish strong and she did exactly that today,” first-year cross country coach Katie Kelley said. “She caught about five runners over the last 400 meters. She’s such a great competitor and tough runner; she knows how to pace herself for a good finish.
“What she’s done between cross country and volleyball has just been nothing short of amazing. She’s figured out what she needs to do to be successful at both, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. I call her a wonder woman, because she’s done everything we’ve asked of her and been wonderful at it.”
In the team standings, UTSA scored 207 points to finish eighth. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi knocked off defending champion Lamar for first in a close 46-51 race. Stephen F. Austin was third (95), followed by Texas State (105), UT Arlington (127), Central Arkansas (175), Sam Houston State (201), UTSA (207), Nicholls State (245), Southeastern Louisiana (261) and Northwestern State (296).
Sophomore Faith Barlow clocked a 23:45.0 for 48th place, while freshmen Liana Garcia and Adalit Casanova and sophomore Katy Spence finished 55th (24:15.6), 57th (24:24.3) and 58th (24:25.5), respectively. Freshmen Baylee Holder and Jayde James placed 66th (25:30.7) and 68th (25:43.4).
“The team finish was lower than what we were expecting,” Katie said. “We are young and a couple of freshmen stepped up and had big PRs today, but overall, I was expecting a better performance. We’ve laid a solid foundation this fall and we’ll build on this for the future.”
Lamar’s Clerc Koenck successfully defended her individual title, crossing in 20:48.1 for a comfortable victory ahead of teammate Renee Graham (21:06.0).
Mecke will represent UTSA at the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday, Nov. 10, in Fayetteville, Ark.
