(L-R) Senior Dana Mecke, sophomore Kayla Pratt and senior Pernilla Savestrand earned all-conference awards for their top-10 finishes Saturday.
CORPUS CHRISTI —
Sophomore Kayla Pratt finished second to lead a trio of Roadrunners in the top seven, as the UTSA women’s cross country team placed fourth at the Southland Conference Championships held Saturday morning at West Guth Park.
Pratt toured the 6k loop in a time of 20:51 for runner-up honors behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Anne Ronoh (20:44). The Comstock native, who was 16th as a freshman last fall, earned the first all-conference certificate of her cross country career in posting her fourth second-place finish of the season.
“Kayla was awesome today,” cross country coach Scott Slade said. “She was out front controlling the pace for the first half and that spread the field out. She was right there with Anne until the very end and we’re really proud of the race she ran. She’s been steady and consistent all season and her hard work really paid off today.”
Senior Dana Mecke, the defending champion, registered a fifth-place time of 21:23, collecting her third career all-conference accolade with her third consecutive top-six league finish. Fellow senior Pernilla Savestrand, a transfer from South Florida, was two places behind Mecke in seventh, stopping the clock in 21:34 for her third top-10 showing of the season.
That trio helped the Roadrunners score 115 points for fourth place behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (58), Stephen F. Austin (82) and UT Arlington (105). McNeese State rounded out the top five with 128. The fourth-place finish marked the fifth top-five finish in the past six years and the best showing since taking third in 2004.
“To place three in the top 10 is an amazing accomplishment and probably something that hasn’t been done here in a long time,” distance/cross country coach Virginia Coindreau said. “We’ve a little string of bad luck the past few weeks, but the girls pulled together and ran the best race they could this morning. I couldn’t be prouder of their effort.”
Sophomore Courtney Nelson and freshman Jessica Bitterly were the fourth and fifth Roadrunners to cross, placing 38th (22:48) and 63rd (24:04), respectively. Freshman Rebecca Crain was 80th (26:30).
“This team has had several obstacles to overcome in the past few weeks, so getting fourth, which is the highest this program has placed in six years, is an outstanding performance,” Slade said. “We’re very strong up front and we’re working on building more depth, but the girls did everything we asked of them today. We’ll build on this and get ready for regionals in two weeks.”
“Coach Slade and Coach Coindreau did a great job of having the team ready for this meet,” director of track and field/cross country Aaron Fox said. “With everything the women’s team has been through in the past few weeks, for them to come out here and get fourth is something we’re all proud of.”
The Roadrunners will take next week off before traveling to Waco to compete in the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday, Nov. 14.