Senior Dana Mecke (left) and sophomore Layne Nixon earned All-NCAA South Central Region honors on Saturday.
WACO — Senior Dana Mecke and sophomore Layne Nixon both earned all-region honors to help lead the UTSA men’s and women’s cross country teams to eighth- and 11th-place finishes, respectively, at the NCAA South Central Regional held Saturday at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course.
Mecke covered the women’s 6k loop in a time of 21:49.5 to finish 24th in the field of 134 runners from NCAA Division I schools in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. It marked the second straight all-region honor for Mecke, who finished 23rd at the regional meet last year.
Nixon toured the men’s 10k trail in 32:06.2 to place 24th in the 134-man field, picking up his first all-region award and the first for UTSA this decade.
Nixon’s performance helped lead the Roadrunners to a tie for eighth place in the team standings. UTSA tallied 225 points to match Arkansas-Little Rock in the 19-team field. Arkansas (47) and Texas (74) earned the region’s two automatic bids to the NCAA Championships.
Sophomores Cole Reveal and Michael Cook and freshman Jim Stitt joined Nixon in the top 50. Reveal was 40th in 32:52.5, while Cook and Stitt crossed in 48th (33:14.6) and 50th (33:16.3), respectively. Sophomore Brandon Chiuminetta rounded out the top five in 68th (33:39.2), while senior Corey Vargas and sophomore Albert Cardenas placed 77th (34:01.0) and 107th (35:12.1).
Senior Pernilla Savestrand joined Mecke in the top 30 of the women’s race, as the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year timed a 22:14.5 for 29th overall. Meanwhile, sophomore Kayla Pratt, the league’s runner-up two weeks ago, finished 55th in 23:04.0. Sophomore Courtney Nelson and freshman Jessica Bitterly rounded out the top five in 90th (24:04.0) and 119th (24:57.0), respectively.
UTSA finished 11th out of 21 squads with 311 points. SMU (34) and Baylor (43) captured the top two spots to secure their spots at the national meet.