Mai, Villa impress with top performances at UIW Invitational

SAN ANTONIO – A pair of outstanding performances highlighted UTSA cross country’s competition on Saturday morning in the 21st Annual UIW Invitational at Windcrest Golf Club. Junior Andruw Villa excelled in his first UTSA 8k, earning silver for the second time in as many UTSA races, leading the men to a fourth-place finish on 98 points and a 26:27 average scoring time. Making her UTSA debut, junior Meryeme Mai produced a stellar race as the meet winner, pacing UTSA to a fourth-place finish with 91 points and an 18:09 average 5k scoring time as a team.

Villa logged a 25:09 in his first Roadrunners 8k and earned the silver medal for the second week in a row, with sophomore David Zuniga finishing 12th in 26:11, ahead of freshman Zac Mangum in 22nd (26:32), sophomore Austin Lyda in 31st (27:05) and rookie Thomas Tamayo rounding out the scorers in 37th (27:18). Also competing for the Roadrunner men, freshmen Murff Mclaughlin was 45th (27:29) and Christion Meiners was 51st (27:47), while Matthew Cato was 54th (27:51) and Landon Fluckiger was 82nd (29:17).

Claiming the first event victory for a Roadrunner woman’s racer since 2017, Mai crossed the finish line in 17:12 to top the 5k field. Freshman Cadence Harris wasn’t far behind, logging a 17:58 to come in 12th, ahead of classmates Kira Albino in 19th (18:16), Ana Garza in 21st (18:19) and Isabel Burke rounded out the scorers at 45th (19:02). Senior Gracie Ortiz (19:35) and freshman Haley Hill finished 48th and 50th, followed by Alexia Rosas (67th, 20:21), Ryland Ross-Jurado (76th, 20:50) and Madeline Mota (100th, 24:56) to fill out the Roadrunner performances.

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