COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The MSU Denver women's indoor track & field team has been picked to finish eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in the annual pre-season coaches poll.

Distance runners Alden Gruidel and Erin Norton, as well as sprinter Jaivion Lattimore, have been namd the Roadrunners' pre-season athletes to watch. Athletes to watch are selected by sports information directors at respective league schools.

MSU Denver has had one meet this season, a dual Dec. 11 at UCCS.

Gruidel opened the season with a provisional qualifying time for Division II Indoor Nationals, a converted 4:56.57 in the mile. She was a cross country All-American in 2019, and she has finished sixth at each of the last two RMAC Cross Country Championships. She was 20^th at Cross Country Nationals in 2019 after finishing eighth at South Central Regional.

Norton opened the season with the nation's fastest time in the 5,000 meters, provisionally qualifying for Indoor Nationals with a converted 16:43.69. She finished second at the RMAC Cross Country Championships, as well as earning second-place finishes in the other two races in which she competed during the abbreviated fall season. Running for Western Colorado, she earned cross country All-American status after finishing 36th at the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2017.
 
Lattimore  opened the 2020-21 season by breaking a 14-year-old school record in the 60 meters, winning in 7.84 in the dual at UCCS. She ranks fifth nationally with a converted 7.88. She competed in preliminaries at the RMAC Indoor Championships in 2020, finishing 13^th in the 60 in 7.93 and 15^th in the 200 (26.60).