Sophomore Scott Ingram races in the men's 3,000-meter run Jun. 23 at the Colorado School of Mines Fieldhouse. File photo by Daniel Clements
Senior Morgan Thomas became the first woman ever at Metro to hit a provisional qualifying time, finishing with a converted time of 2:16.13 in the 800-meter preliminaries. Thomas also broke a school record with that time, and was nearly three seconds ahead of her 24 competitors. Thomas went on to win the final 800-meter race with a time of 2:18.62.
“Overall we had some great performances,” Head Coach John Supsic said. “Morgan had a phenomenal meet, and we had some guys that placed very well. This was one of our bigger meets and we held our own.”
Senior Brandon Johnson also blew by competitors, winning the mile race with a converted time of 4:11.65, well below the provisional standard of 4:13.70, qualifying him for the NCAA Championships in March. Johnson and several other athletes helped the team to finish with 20 points on the men’s side, placing 12th out of 17 teams, and fourth of the seven Division II teams participating.
The women’s team finished with 22 points, placing them 10th out of 18 teams and second out of eight Division II teams.
Sophomore Danielle Kehoe contributed 10 points to the women’s total when she came in first in the 5000-meter championship, beating nine other competitors and also achieving a personal record. Thomas also added 10 points, and the remaining two were earned by senior Taebrooke Rutter when she finished eighth in the mile.
With conference championships and the NCAA Championships closing in, every meet matters. With only a few meets left to “tune up,” the Roadrunners are giving everything they’ve got to prepare themselves for the competition. Although they have faced Division I runners before, meets like the Air Force Invitational are great preparation for what they will face in conferences and Nationals.
“Everyone’s definitely excited, people that haven’t made Nationals are pushing themselves in practice and pushing themselves in meets. Competing against Division I fires up our team. They want to prove something,” Supsic said.
The Roadrunners will compete again Feb. 19 when they head to Golden for the Colorado Mines Twilight Invitational.
