The Rodrunners won six individual/relay championships at this weekend's Southland Conference Indoor Championships (photo by Kevin Ellis).
NORMAN, Okla. — Led by gold medals from the senior trio of Jessica Jones, Dana Mecke and Pernilla Savestrand on Saturday, the UTSA women’s track and field team finished third at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships held at Mosier Indoor Facility.
Mecke completed her second consecutive middle-distance double — a Southland Conference first — while Jones repeated in the 60-meter hurdles and Savestrand claimed top honors in the 3,000m to help the Roadrunners to their highest indoor league finish since finishing third in 2004. Combined with a victory in the distance medley relay and sophomore Kayla Pratt’s win in the 5,000m on Friday night, UTSA became just the second school to ever sweep the distance events at the Southland Indoor (UT Arlington, 1997).
“We came into the meet knowing that if everything fell our way, we could compete for a conference championship,” director of track and field/cross country Aaron Fox said. “While we fell a little short of that, I’m very proud of the way our seniors delivered. They had an outstanding meet. Our freshmen also had a solid meet and this is valuable experience for them. They got to come out here and learn what it’s like to compete for a championship.”
Stephen F. Austin repeated as champions with 151 points, followed by UT Arlington (122) and UTSA’s 105 points, its highest total since posting 124.5 as runners-up in 1996. Sam Houston (59), Northwestern State (46.5) and Texas State (46) rounded out the top six.
Mecke successfully defended her 800m title for the third year in a row and captured the mile crown in a 90-minute span on Saturday. The Smithson Valley High product clocked a 4:54.76 to lead a one-two finish by her and Savestrand in the mile, and she came back a little more than an hour later to take the 800m in 2:14.31.
She became the first Southland athlete to win three consecutive 800m titles since Misheal Bertrand of UT Arlington won three straight from 1999-2001, and the 2009 Southland Indoor Most Outstanding Track Performer now is the first league runner to ever complete the middle-distance double in back-to-back campaigns.
“For Dana to be sitting in the hospital two days ago with food poisoning and to come back and win two more championships is an absolutely amazing accomplishment,” Fox said. “She’s tough as nails and she showed why she’s one of the best distance runners UTSA has ever had this weekend.”
Jones skimmed the hurdles in a personal-best-tying 8.48 to win her second straight indoor crown and fourth consecutive league title including the outdoor 100m hurdles. Her win also gave UTSA its third overall league crown in the event and she became the first league athlete to win back-to-back races since Tameshia Miller of Northwestern State in 2004-05.
“Jessica has really stepped up in the hurdles the past two years,” Fox said. “She is the ultimate competitor and she really kept her focus in a good field today. That was a perfect way for her to finish off her indoor career.”
Meanwhile, Savestrand, who also ran on the victorious distance medley relay Friday night, continued the strong showing by the distance crew, as she raced to a season-best 10:00.23 clocking to beat McNeese State’s Amy Guinn (10:05.33) to the line. That performance came less than two hours after she covered the mile in a season-best 4:56.07 for runner-up honors behind Mecke.
“I can’t say enough about what Pernilla has done in her first season with our program,” Fox said. “From what she did in cross country in the fall to what she did this weekend is outstanding.”
Junior Jayde James, also a member of the champion DMR, posted a third-place finish in the 800m, circling the 220-yard flat track four times in a personal-best time of 2:16.72. That performance ranks now ranks No. 4 on UTSA’s all-time list.
Sophomore Kayla Pratt followed her impressive Friday night with a fourth-place effort in the 3,000m. The Del Rio native clocked a 10:11.25 to help her tally 17.5 points for the meet after winning the 5,000m and anchoring the DMR to gold a day earlier.
On Friday, Pratt clocked a 17:17.76 to capture the 5,000m for her first individual league crown. She bettered her own school record set earlier this season by nearly six seconds and beat runner-up Joyce Cheriuyot of Lamar to the line by more than 11 ticks (17:28.98).
Meanwhile, the DMR foursome of Savestrand, freshman Briony Miller, James and Pratt passed the baton to a time of 12:12.29, the second-best performance in school history, to successfully defend ahead of UT Arlington (12:16.65). James and Pratt both ran on last year’s quartet that posted a 12:15.90 in Houston and it marked the fifth title in the event (fourth since 2002).
“The DMR was outstanding,” Fox said. “Every leg did an amazing job of getting out with the leaders and staying in the race. It’s just a great accomplishment for this program to win back-to-back titles in this event.
“Kayla turned in an incredible performance for the second year in a row. We didn’t originally plan for her to run the anchor leg tonight, but we made the change and she delivered in a huge way.”
In other Saturday action, freshman Eboni Johnson skipped to a season-best-tying 39-3 ¼ measure to place fourth in the triple jump, while Amanda McGill raced to a fifth-place time of 8.75 — a personal best — in the 60m hurdles.
In the shot put, the freshman duo of Zaquita McClanahan and Stacia Newton finished fifth (45-0 ½) and sixth (personal-best 44-6 ¾), respectively, and the 4x400m relay team of Jones, Miller, junior Shavonne Armbrister and freshman Shartanae Swearengin passed the baton to a seventh-place time of 3:59.04.