| Senior Dana Mecke earned her third Southland Conference Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year award on Monday. |
FRISCO — UTSA senior Dana Mecke was named the Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Women’s Indoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Monday.
Mecke, a senior from Smithson Valley High, won her second consecutive award and third overall, as she also was named the league’s top student-athlete following the 2008 cross country campaign.
Mecke, who boasts a 3.88 grade-point average in mechanical engineering, is a six-time Southland Conference Indoor Champion. She successfully defended her league crowns in the 800 meters and mile at February's Southland Indoor Championships and became the first female athlete in league history to sweep the middle distance races in consecutive seasons. Mecke also became the first league runner to win three consecutive 800m titles since 2001 and helped UTSA finish third in team standings with its highest point total (105) since 1996.
Lamar’s Samuel Kosgei won the men’s award.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 12 member schools, voted for the student-athletes of the year.
The student-athlete of the year award is presented to the one male and one female student-athlete who achieve excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 gpa on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated achievement in athletics for at least two years at the nominating institution.
Included in Capital One Bank’s support of the Southland Conference’s Academic Awards Program is the F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship, the All-Academic Teams, the Student-Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete Award and the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.