| Junior Dana Mecke was named SLC Athlete of the Year following her league title on Monday. |
NACOGDOCHES ? UTSA junior Dana Mecke captured the school’s first individual conference crown in women’s cross country since 1996, guiding the Roadrunners to a fifth-place finish at the Southland Conference Championships on Monday at Piney Woods Country Club.
Mecke remained unbeaten in winning her seventh race of the season, covering the 6,000-meter loop in a time of 21:39. The five-time SLC Athlete of the Week held off runner-up Anne Ronoh of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by eight seconds, her fourth head-to-head win over the Islanders’ top runner this fall.
“It feels great to see all the hard work pay off,” Mecke said. “I just went out at a comfortable pace and tried to stay with the leaders early on. There was no need for me to kill myself to stay in the race, so I just relaxed and waited until about 400 meters left to make my move.”
Mecke became the fourth Roadrunner to win a women’s cross country league title, joining Joanne Kineard (1991), Liza Hunter (1992) and Stacey Poole (1996), and she was named SLC Athlete of the Year following the race. It also marked her second all-conference honor in cross country, as she picked up her initial award with a sixth-place showing at last year’s meet in Corpus Christi.
“Dana followed our race plan to perfection,” distance/cross country coach Scott Slade. “We have been training her to be a conference champion and she ran an amazingly smart race today. She has been outstanding all season long, and it’s great to see her be so successful in her first year under our training regimen. We believe she has a chance to really extend her season beyond regionals.”
Mecke’s victory helped the Roadrunners finish fifth in the team standings, their fourth top-five showing in the past five years. UTSA tallied 152 points to place behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (49), Stephen F. Austin (61), Texas State (95) and UT Arlington (108). Southeastern Louisiana was sixth with 164 points, followed by Lamar (176), Sam Houston State (191), McNeese State (236), Central Arkansas (243), Nicholls (255) and Northwestern State (357).
“We did as well as really could have expected in the team standings,” Slade said. “They ran well today and have really done everything we have asked of them all season long. They’ve stayed healthy, which is important when you only have five runners, and they’re all back next year. We’re excited about where the program is heading.”
Freshman Kayla Pratt clocked a 23:00 to finish 16th overall, while sophomore Jayde James was 40th in 24:24. Freshman Courtney Nelson and sophomore Baylee Holder placed 45th (24:43) and 51st (25:02), respectively.
“Dana was solid, just like she has been all season,” director of track and field/cross country Aaron Fox said. “I’m really proud of the way the entire team ran. For us to finish fifth with only five girls competing is a great accomplishment.”
The Roadrunners will return to the course on Saturday, Nov. 15, when they travel to Waco to compete in the NCAA South Central Regional Championships.