| Junior Dana Mecke (left) and freshman Michael Cook were UTSA's top finishers on Saturday. | |
WACO ? Junior Dana Mecke finished 23rd and freshman Michael Cook was 42nd to lead the UTSA cross country teams’ effort at the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course.
Mecke posted the top finish by a Roadrunner at the women’s regional meet in at least 12 years, taking 23rd in a race that featured runners from schools in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. The Smithson Valley product covered the 6,000-meter trail in a time of 21:42.8 on a cold and windy morning to finish as the top UTSA athlete for the eighth time this fall. Mecke had won all seven races entering today’s meet, including the program’s first Southland Conference crown since 1996.
Freshman Kayla Pratt and sophomore Jayde James also competed, finishing 51st (22:42.0) and 86th (23:44.5), respectively. Nicole Mericle of Rice won the women’s 6k in 20:34.7.
Cook finished as the top Roadrunner for the second time in his debut season, guiding the men to a 14th-place team showing. The Magnolia native clocked a 32:38.5 for 42nd in his first 10k of the season in bettering the top finish by a UTSA men’s runner this decade, a 48th-place effort by Benson Cheserek in 2006.
Freshmen Cole Reveal was close behind in 57th with a 33:06.5 clocking, while fellow freshman Eric Doll placed 80th in 33:48.2. Junior transfer Jake Orndorff and freshman Albert Cardenas rounded out the top five in 82nd (33:50.1) and 89th (34:21.3), respectively.
The Roadrunners tallied 321 points for 14th place, a two-spot improvement of the best finish in the past five seasons. Texas A&M edged traditional power Arkansas, 39-44, for the team title behind Shadrack Songok’s individual crown (29:52.1).
Arkansas won the women’s team title with 51 points, while Rice and Baylor tied for second with 61 points. Rice gained the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships by tiebreaker rules and all team and individual at-large bids will be announced on Sunday.