After a top-five finish at the Longhorn Invitational, the UTSA cross country team looks to be in great form heading into the final meet of the regular season, the Broncos Invitational on Oct. 17.

Through three meets, UTSA senior and two-sport standout athlete Dusan Makevic has led the Roadrunners. Makevic, who also competes in long distances with the UTSA track team, has finished in the top five of every meet he has competed in this season.

“I worked hard during the summer,” said Makevic of his early success. “I was running by myself. I would practice whenever I could to stay in shape. In previous season I didn’t start that well (or) I got injured, so this is looking like a good season.”

For Makevic, the work he put in over the summer has been apparent. He finished in second in a 6k at the Aggies Opener in Sept. with a time of 18:02.05 — 3.3 seconds behind individual winner Cameron Villarreal of Texas A&M (17:59.9). His strong performance at the Aggies Opener garnered him Conference USA co-Athlete of the Week honors — the first Conference USA weekly accolade awarded to the team in program history.

“I was able to maintain a good place with them (the Texas A&M cross country team), and at the end their best guy beat me,” said Makevic of his strategy at the opener.

After missing the second meet of the year, Makevic came back with a fourth-place time of 25:30.60 in an 8k at the Longhorns Invitational.

As one of only a few upperclassmen on this year’s roster, Makevic’ strong performances have been important for the relatively young team.

“I think in the next seasons they can be good,” Makevic said of his young teammates. “At the season opener, (the sophomores) made insane results. If they continue improving, we can expect more and better.”

For a two-sport athlete, it can be difficult managing training hours. As an NCAA athlete, Makevic is required to stay underneath 20 hours of official training each week, so to supplement, Makevic often spends time training in his spare hours.

“My teammates are also working hard and they help me a lot,” Makevic said. “We go on long runs together a lot. We are all good friends; we spend time together outside of practice. It’s a good atmosphere and I wouldn’t change it.”

Although Makevic has been impressive early, he will have to wait until track season in order to display his ability to a home crowd. The cross-country team has no home meets slated for the remainder of the season.

“Track season is in the spring and we usually more intensive stuff (training),” Makevic said. “(Cross country) helps me to build a pace for the track season. We do low aerobic workouts to build a pace for the spring.”

Makevic will look to continue with his early season success in Sunnyvale, California when the UTSA men’s cross country team competes in the Broncos Invitational on Oct. 17.