DENVER – Erin Norton and Yonatan Kefle each finished in the top 15 to highlight MSU Denver's performances in the Roadrunners Invitational on Friday.
 
Norton finished 12^th, running the six-kilometer course at Washington Park in 22 minutes, 42.1 seconds, leading the Roadrunners to fourth in the eight-team field.
 
Kefle finished 15^th in the 8K men's race in 25:36.6.
 
"Erin ran a smart race," MSU Denver associate head coach Amanda Rego said. "She had an awesome last 1K loop. She's really coming into form and helping the others along. And Yoni ran a smart race, too. He was in the top 15 with some really highly-ranked individuals and Division I runners. That's a great race for him."
 
Beyond the teams' lead finishers, Rego saw encouraging signs up and down the lineup.
 
"Nick Nowlen stepped up to be our No. 2 today for the men," Rego said. "He really ran tough. And Abi Read was awesome today as our fourth, putting herself out there and scoring for the team."
 
Nowlen finished 35^th overall in 26:36.8. Oticio Herrera was 41^st, Noel Lopez 43^rd and JJ Ramey was 53^rd as the men were fifth in the six-team race. Behind Norton for the women, Anna Swanson was 19^th, Vanessa Kort 24^th, Read 31^st and Alliyah Molina 32^nd.
 
"For the men, it was our first time having our whole squad out there," Rego said. "We didn't have a perfect day, but we had a progressive day. We had people cutting off huge chunks of time and moving up really well on the field. I was proud of how people closed the spread.
 
"For the women, not everyone had a perfect day, but that rarely happens in cross country."
 
After racing for the third time in 13 days, Rego is encouraged about the teams. MSU Denver is off until early October.
 
"We're really coming for the second half of the season," she said. "We've raced more than everyone else to this point, so we had some people who were a little tired. We'll have an even better day in a few weeks."