Dana Mecke
UTSA junior Dana Mecke

Dana Mecke named SLC student-athlete of year

By Kyle Stephens
Sports Information Director

(April 13, 2009)--UTSA junior Dana Mecke (Bulverde, Texas/Smithson Valley High School) has been tabbed Capitol One/Southland Conference Women's Indoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Monday.

Mecke, a Smithson Valley High graduate who carries a 3.95 grade-point average in mechanical engineering, also won the 2008 SLC Women's Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year award in November, giving her two such honors in the same academic year.

One of the top middle-distance runners in the league, Mecke tallied a team-high 22.5 points at the SLC Indoor Championship in February. She won the 800 and 1,500 meters and anchored the distance medley relay team to the gold medal and was named the meet’s Outstanding Track Performer.

A CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI selection last spring and a five-time SLC Commissioner's Honor Roll and President's List honoree, Mecke won the league's 800m title last year and captured the circuit's cross country crown en route to being named 2008 SLC Cross Country Athlete of the Year. She is taking a redshirt season during this outdoor campaign.

Samuel Kosgei of Lamar was honored as the SLC Men's Indoor Track and Field Student-Athlete of the Year.

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 student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.

Included in Capital One'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.

The combined all-academic team for cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field will be selected in June.