? Final results
? Photo gallery
| Dana Mecke | Brandon Chiuminetta |
SAN MARCOS ? Behind a combined 12 top-20 finishes, the UTSA men’s and women’s cross country teams posted a pair of runner-up showings on Saturday at the Texas State Invitational held at Gary Job Corps.
"I was very encouraged by the way both teams ran today," cross country coach Scott Slade said. "All of our returnees ran faster than they did at this same meet last year. We have a lot of newcomers and even though they were running this distance for the first time, they performed very well. We have a chance to be much better teams on both sides this season."
In the opening race of the day, freshmen Layne Nixon and Ivan Garcia both crossed in the first nine runners to help the UTSA men score 49 points for second place behind Texas (20). Nixon covered the five-mile course in a time of 26:12.0, while Garcia was close behind in ninth overall and eighth among attached runners in 26:21.3.
The Roadrunners actually placed 10 athletes in the top 25 finishers in the 70-man field. Sophomore Brandon Chiuminetta was 11th in 26:29.8, while junior Jake Orndorff and freshman Michael Cook rounded out the top five scorers in 13th (26:33.8) and 15th (26:53.8), respectively.
Junior Corey Vargas (17th, 27:04.3), freshmen Albert Cardenas (20th, 27:25.5), Al Johnson (21st, 27:29.7) and Eric Doll (23rd, 27:35.0), sophomore Dominick Zucconi (25th, 27:56.3) and freshman Cole Reveal (29th, 28:12.9) also competed. Rory Tunningley of Texas was the men’s individual champion in 25:46.
UTSA easily outdistanced Angelo State (97), Southwestern (128), St. Edward’s (146), Southwest New Mexico (147), Texas State (211), Schreiner (222) and UT-Permian Basin (237) in the team standings.
On the women’s side, junior Dana Mecke and freshman Kayla Pratt picked up where they left off last week as the top relay team at the UTSA Opener and Southland Conference co-Athletes of the Week. Mecke registered a comfortable individual victory ? the second of her UTSA career ?to lead the Roadrunners to second place with 43 points behind Texas (23). Mecke toured the three-mile trail in a time of 17:30.5, well ahead of runner-up Larkin Geyer of Texas, who clocked a 17:47.0. Mecke was sixth at this meet last year, as she knocked more than a full minute off her time of 18:49.81 from 2007.
Pratt was close behind in fourth place, stopping the watch in 17:59.5, while sophomore Jayde James (Leesburg, Va.) was 11th in 18:38.8. Sophomore Baylee Holder and freshman Courtney Nelson also finished in the top 20, placing 16th (19:29.2) and 18th (19:43.0), respectively.
In the team standings, the Roadrunners were well ahead of third-place finisher and rival Texas State (100), while St. Mary’s (125), Texas Lutheran (136), St. Edward’s (149), Southwestern (157) and UT-Permian Basin (199) completed the eight-team field.
The Roadrunners return to action next Saturday, Sept. 13, when they travel to College Station to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational.