­­DENVER – Anthony Luna is living proof that you shouldn't try to flee on foot from the police.

"You can read the cues," said Luna, a member of the New Mexico State Police. "And one day I could tell that I had someone who was thinking about it. I put down my clipboard and I asked, 'Are you thinking about running?'

He said, 'What if I was?'

I said, 'I'll give you a 10-second head start.'

"I kept my word, and then I chased after him and caught him. The guy said, 'Holy crap, you must be the fastest cop alive.'"

Retelling the story recently, Luna roared with amusement.

It's good to be a former national champion 800 meters runner. And apparently, Luna still moves pretty quickly.

A gem unearthed when Metropolitan State University of Denver re-started its shuttered track and field program after a 20-year absence in 2005, Luna ran his way to prominence while on campus.

And he'll be recognized once again when he is inducted into the MSU Denver Athletics Hall of Fame.

National championship women's soccer coach Danny Sanchez and the 1982 volleyball team that placed third in the NAIA national tournament will also be inducted at the Hall of Fame banquet, which takes place Saturday, Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m., following a 7 p.m. social event, at the Auraria Event Center.

Tickets can be purchased online at: https://events.msudenver.edu/2018-athletics-hall-of-fame.
 
The event will take place following a 4 p.m. MSU Denver home volleyball match against Colorado State University-Pueblo.

Luna's path to the Hall of Fame is an improbable one.

He'd been a high school star and 800-meter state champion in Westminster, with Division I interest and an opportunity to run for Division II power Adams State.

But, as a high school senior, his girlfriend was pregnant, and Luna had a decision to make.

"I kind of freaked, like any young man would," Luna said. "I had a lot of sit-down talks with my dad, and he'd said that I've got to do what I've got to do as a father."

So Luna hung up his spikes and became an apprentice electrician.

"I did commercial work, and I learned a lot, but it wasn't for me," Luna said. "I remember going to high school meets, and the guys who were juniors the year before would ask me where I was running at (in college). But I hadn't run a step after high school. I'd put that in my past and was going to see what the future held."

But MSU Denver hired Pete Julian away from Regis to be its new track coach. One of Luna's high school friends, who was running at Regis, told Julian about Luna.

Before long, Luna was able to stay home and be a father and resume his running career.

"One day I'd had a bad day at work, and I got a call from Pete Julian," Luna said. "I hadn't run a step in almost a whole year. I had a 9-month old baby. We set up a meeting and he said he couldn't give me much of a scholarship, but I didn't hesitate. I put away my boots and put on my running shoes."

Luna redshirted during the 2005-06 season, and was solid but not necessarily spectacular as a redshirt freshman in both cross country and track.

"The crazy thing is, not that I'm a cocky guy, but I always had a mentality that I may not be the best starting out, but I'm going to work twice as hard as anybody, and with my natural talent and abilities, I always thought that I was going up in the ranks," he said. "I remember running in high school in a junior varsity cross country meet and I was getting my butt handed to me, but I knew that one day it would be better."

True to that mentality, Luna emerged during the 2007-08 seasons. He was MSU Denver's first-ever NCAA qualifier in cross country, then took off during track season, finishing third in the 800 meters at the indoor national meet, and then finishing second – in a photo finish – in the same event during the outdoor nationals.

"The biggest thing, and the biggest push, was everything that had to do with my son," Luna said. "It changed my motivation on my running. I wanted to show my son that even if you have adversity in your life that you can overcome it and accomplish what you want to accomplish."

Luna said he often thought of Anthony Jr. for added inspiration at the end of races. In fact, he often saw his son at those races and even at practices.

"It made me feel great," Luna said. "He used to think I was the fastest guy alive."

Luna broke through and won national championships, both indoor and outdoor, in the 800 in 2009, becoming the Roadrunners' first-ever track national champion. He ran a 1:51.99 for the indoor title, then went 1:49.26 to win outdoors.

When Julian left for Washington State, Luna considered following him for his senior season. Ultimately he decided to stick with MSU Denver, though injuries limited him during his senior season.

"Representing Metro State was the smartest thing for me to do," Luna said. "They had given me a second chance, and without them none of that would have happened. The right thing to do was to stay in school and ride it out."

Luna kept running at the national level for a year after leaving MSU Denver, as he reconnected with Julian and trained in Washington. He qualified for the Olympic Trials. However, family concerns led him to return to Denver and retire from racing.

"The training was there, but the (financial) backing wasn't there, and I wasn't making a lot of money," Luna said. "I no longer had the support system I had in college. I had to make the decision to end my running career."

A criminal justice major, he tried in vain to find work in law enforcement in the Denver area and was stunned to hear about years-long waiting lists.

New Mexico, however, was a different story.

A six-month academy started in the summer of 2012, and by the end of the year he was a patrolman in Taos, N.M., for the New Mexico State Police.

Two years later, he transferred to Albuquerque, working there for another year as patrolman, then he began teaching courses to commissioned officers at the academy for nearly two years. He then spent another year in charge of courses for recruits.

Recently he's joined an auto-theft prevention unit in an area of the city that is one of the most-prone to auto theft in the country.

Anthony Jr., is 13, and lives in Colorado, but spends time during holidays and summers with his father.

Meanwhile, Anthony Sr. is fighting crime. It's a career path he never would've been on if it hadn't been for getting a second chance at MSU Denver.

"I caught a guy once who said he had run from the Albuquerque Police Department eight or nine times," Luna said. "He couldn't believe I caught him. I said, 'Well, you shouldn't run from the staters (state police). We're at another level, man.'

"My career as a track runner totally translates."

Roadrunners Athletics Hall of Fame Spotlight Series Schedule

Friday, Sept. 28	Danny Sanchez: Awakening MSU Denver's Women's Soccer Giant
Thursday, Oct. 4	Anthony Luna: A Roundabout Road to a National Championship
Wednesday, Oct. 10	The 1982 Volleyball Team: A Surprising Run to National Prominence