SEGUIN ? The UTSA men’s and women’s cross country teams posted a pair of runner-up finishes at the TLU Invitational held Saturday on the Texas Lutheran campus. Junior Dana Mecke set a course record in winning her fourth consecutive individual crown, while freshman Layne Nixon and junior Jake Orndorff posted top-10 finishes to lead the men.
In her first 6,000-meter race of the season, Mecke clocked a 21:59.8 for top honors ahead of Emily Loeffler of Trinity, who was more than 10 seconds behind in 22:10.5. The Smithson Valley product bettered the course record of 22:55.0 by nearly one minute and topped her runner-up time of 23:03.4 posted last year at this meet by 64 seconds in remaining unbeaten this season in four individual and one relay races.
All five Roadrunners finished in the top 17, including freshman Kayla Pratt in fifth. The Comstock High graduate covered the 6k trail in 23:07.7. Sophomore Jayde James was 11th in 24:30.2, a marked improvement from last year’s 24th-place time of 25:41.0, while freshman Courtney Nelson was close behind James in 12th in 24:45.6. Sophomore Baylee Holder rounded out the five scorers in 17th with a 25:49.2 clocking.
UTSA tallied 46 points in a tight race for the team title won by Trinity, which scored 42 behind four top-seven finishers. Texas State was third with 103 points, followed by Texas A&M International (121), Texas Lutheran (124), Southwestern (143), UT-Permian Basin (163), Dallas (154) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (198).
Nixon led the men for the fourth straight meet, placing eighth overall for his third top-10 finish of his debut season. He covered the 8k loop in a time of 26:21.4, just 17 seconds out of the top five. Orndorff was right on Nixon’s heels with a time of 26:29.2, finishing a season-best 10th.
Freshman Michael Cook led a quartet of Roadrunners that also finished in the top 20 in the 99-man field. The Magnolia native stopped the watch in 27:00.7 to place 13th, while fellow first-year runner Albert Cardenas was 14th in 27:07.3. Junior Corey Vargas and freshman Eric Doll finished 15th (27:09.8) and 16th (27:10.2), respectively.
In the team race, UTSA scored 60 points for second place behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (27). Lynchburg was third with 71, followed by Trinity (106), Texas State (116), Southwestern (195), Texas A&M International (228), UT-Permian Basin (269), UT-Dallas (279), Dallas (307), Schreiner (319), Texas A&M-Kingsville (321) and Huston-Tillotson (339).
The Roadrunners return to the course next Saturday, Oct. 11, when they compete in the Walt Disney World Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
