DENVER – At long last, the MSU Denver's men's and women's indoor track & field seasons are set to start this weekend at the UCCS Pre-Holiday Invitational & Multi.
 
The event starts Friday at 11:30 a.m. and resumes Saturday at 10 a.m.
 
"We're definitely excited to get going," MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher said. "We've been doing our time trials, and that gives us a rough idea of where we're at – and those time trials have been very good. We're ahead of where we've been in years past at this time – not just the returners but the newcomers, too. It will be exciting to see how it translates to competition.
 
"For the speed and power athletes, they've been training for so long without any competition, I know they are excited to finally get out there. This weekend will help us set realistic goals as we start preparing for the bulk of the season starting in January."
 
Two expanding areas of the MSU Denver program, the multi-event and throws (power) competitions, will get an early gauge of their status this weekend.
 
Jocelyn Korbe returns for her second season in the pentathlon, where she was among the Roadrunners' first-ever competitors last year and placed eighth at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships. She'll be joined by true freshman Jade Marvel.
 
"Jocelyn scored points for us last year, and we're hoping to do that again," Christopher said. "And we're always looking to move up. Jade hasn't really done a multi-event before, but there's not a lot of them (competitors) in the conference so we want to get a chance to see where she stands.
 
"She's primarily a shot-putter, but watching her run in the workouts, I can't believe she was never on the track before. She has a really natural stride and has had one of our better 300-meter times in time trials – we'll see how that translates to the 800. She's only hurdled a couple of times, but she's been working on her technique and getting over the hurdles efficiently. It will take her time to grow into that event."
 
True freshmen Brandon Simpson for the men and Grace Solarin for the women are also expected to contribute in the shot put and weight throws.
 
MSU Denver has no record of a man competing in the indoor throwing events, while there is no record of a Roadrunner woman in the weight throw. Korbe was among two MSU Denver women to compete in the shot put (during the pentathlon) last season, and she holds the school record at 9.34 meters (30 feet, 7 ¾ inches).
 
"If you're going to succeed at the conference level, you really need to be diverse, so we're moving into adding throwers and we're hoping they are rather impactful," Christopher said. "We know it will take a while to build our throws program because we don't have the reputation for it yet. We're not likely going to get a bunch of (high school) state champions right out of the gate.
 
"But we are bringing in athletes with a lot of potential and we're hopeful that Brandon and Grace can be point scorers at the conference championships at some point. It'll be fun to see how our power events people stack up. Whether we can find ourselves in scoring position in this first year, only time will tell."
 
On the track, Nick Nowlen – a two-time national qualifier in the 800 meters – will run the mile this weekend as he transitions back down from running up to 10,000 meters in cross country.
 
He and cross country all-region performer JJ Ramey (in the 5,000 meters) are eyeing potential provisional qualifying times for the Division II Indoor National Championships in their events. Those times are 4 minutes, 10.39 seconds and 14:29.66, respectively.
 
For the women, after having her outdoor season cut short, Allyssa Romero is back to take aim at taking down some of her marks from last season, when she set the program record in the 400 meters (57.95 seconds) and posted five of the program's seven-fastest times ever in the event.
 
"The way she's been training, I think she's ready to make another drop in her time," Christopher said. "I could see her running a personal best in her first meet. She's so confident and training at such a high level."
 
Star hurdlers Anthony Martinez for the men and Maya Ries for the women are also looking to make immediate impacts. Martinez finished seventh in the 60-meter hurdles at the RMAC Championships last season and also posted the 46^th-best time in Division II (8.18 raw time) while becoming the second-best competitor in the event in program history.
 
Ries, after a five-year competitive layoff, ran the seven best times in program history in the 60 hurdles last year, with her season best and school record of 9.00 good for fifth at the RMAC Championships.
 
"I'm excited to see what Anthony's first race will look like," Christopher said. "He's much more efficient over the hurdles now after working hard over the summer on his technique and some of the things that plagued him last year and kept him from running faster between the hurdles. He got stronger, too, and I wouldn't be shocked if he's close to his personal best in his first race.
 
"Maya should have a strong showing, too. Her first meet out last year was a bit difficult after she hadn't raced in a long time. But by the outdoor season she had told herself to "just run." She's been a hurdler for so long, her technique is very sound and the hurdling part of it is just muscle memory. I expect her to have a great season."